Though I am only at the beginning of my journey through Game of Thrones I have rarely seen a series make such an impression, and when the first season ended there were waves of disbelief which swept over Twitter, so clearly I have a lot to catch up on.

Bowing graciously to the legion of fans, who are baying like hungry tv-watching wolves in the downtime between seasons, HBO have put up seventeen new images of season two on their Facebook page and we’ve taken some of the best and placed them here.

If you want to see the two trailers we’ve already posted then click here to tease yourself until the 1st of April comes around and the second season begins.

Here are the images, click on the link above to see the rest.

Here’s the second trailer for HBO’s awesome TV series, Game of Thrones which is back on Sky Atlantic 1st April. In the trailer we get to see lots more footage from the show which has taken the country by storm.

In this new teaser trailer, we get to hear about the ‘Three great men, a king, a priest and a rich man’. It’s a great little teaser trailer this which fills you in with the story even if you’ve never seen it and I cannot wait to see what happens (as I’ve still not read the books!).

If you missed season 1, it starred Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Haringtons. If you missed it, it’s definitely a show that you need to watch and you can order it here.

You can find out more about the show on the HBO website here.

Good news fans of all things Game of Thrones as HBO have announced that the popular TV series will return to US screens 1st April. Not work yet on when we’ll get it in the UK but it shouldn’t be much later than the 1st on Sky Atlantic if the previous season is anything to go by.

The news come from Variety who tell us the second season will be 10 episodes long and I am very excited about it returning.

Here’s the info:

HBO has set April 1 as the date for the 10-episode second-season premiere of ”Game of Thrones.”

Fantasy drama was a huge ratings winner for the pay cabler in its debut last year, as well as a massive profit center for the net since HBO produces the series as well. In addition to be a domestic hit, ”Thrones” drew millions of viewers around the world.

HBO has released a new behind-the-scenes video from Season 2 of the medieval fantasy, Game of Thrones, featuring interviews with cast members Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), as well as commentary from executive producer David Benioff.

The American series, created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, is based on author George R. R. Martin’s best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels and debuted in the US in April 2011. Set in the medieval fantasy world of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the series, which has a mainly British and Irish cast, chronicles the violent struggles among the kingdom’s noble families for control of the Iron Throne.

This latest behind-the-scenes video gives us a sneak peek at some upcoming scenes, which will return to US TV screens via HBO in April 2012, and will be broadcast later in the year on Sky Atlantic over in the UK.

Benioff talks about the move of location to Belfast for filming and says, “You really need to believe that you’re in a space that has been there for thousands of years, and you get that with the Irish forest.”

(Source: Comic Book Movie)

Judd Apatow has been busy building his presence on the big screen as producer, writer and director, but he is back on the small screen for now, as producer of HBO series “Girls”. Yes, it’s set in New York City, yes there is some sex, no there is no Sarah Jessica Parker. Instead, we have (as far as can be gleaned from a relatively brief trailer) laughs, winning performances and no small amount of frankness regarding sex (“why do we need to get lube?”).

HBO tend to be associated with very high calibre television and regardless of what you might think of Apatow’s big screen ubiquity and the danger of quality dilution that often goes along with that, it looks like this should be a winner. US TV seems to have a pretty short shelf-life these days, so Girls will have to prove itself quickly if it is to endure. But if there’s any justice and if this trailer is symptomatic of the rest of the show, all should be well.

Source: Collider.

April is the time to get excited people as that’s when Game of Thrones Season 2 hits TV screens in the US and UK. HBO have released this fabulous trailer for the second season and it looks just as brilliant as the first. The TV show is based on the series of books by George R. R. Martin.

If you missed season 1, it starred Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Haringtons. If you missed it, it’s definitely a show that you need to watch and you can order it here.

Have a watch of the trailer below:

Aaron Sorkin seems to be going from strength to strength. Already greatly esteemed from his massively impressive and hugely influential writing work on The West Wing, he has since gone on to win an Oscar for The Social Network and further TV and film projects as varied as Studio 60, Charlie Wilson’s War and Moneyball. His cameo in Tina Fey’s excellent 30 Rock played on the “walk and talk” style he so deftly established for The West Wing and with all of this under his belt he is now working on a new series for HBO, recently re-titled “Newsroom”, from the earlier but slightly unwieldly working title “More As This Story Develops”.

Newsroom will see Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dummer) as show host Will McCallister and Sam Waterston (Law and Order) as network President Charlie Skinner alongside Emily Mortimer and Olivia Munn, with Sorkin’s now distinctive intelligent dialogue no doubt running swiftly between all concerned.

Here is (apparently) a very brief snippet of Sorkin’s dialogue from the show:-

Will: Charlie, I can’t go after Halliburton and miss.

Charlie: Oh report the goddam news, Will.

Will: You remember a guy named Dan Rather?

Charlie: Dan got it right.

Will: He’s no longer on television.

It is hard to imagine Sorkin putting a foot wrong, though Studio 60 did not last long. Perhaps with his reputation even higher now than it was after The West Wing, his latest project will have better legs.

Source: Collider.

One of the handful of British talents well known and loved on beyond our shores, and in my opinion one of the finest actors working at the moment, Ewan McGregor is now set to join Oscar-nominated writer-director Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s acclaimed novel, The Corrections, Deadline report.

The adaptation has been set up at HBO, with the first episode already scripted by both Franzen and Baumbach, and the latter is set to direct the pilot, which is brilliant news. McGregor is joining Chris Cooper (American Beauty, The Town) and Dianne Wiest (Edward Scissorhands) in what is shaping up to be a fantastic cast.

Published back in 2001, Franzen’s original novel,

“revolves around the troubles of a Midwestern couple (Cooper and Wiest), and their three adult children as they trace their lives from the mid-20th century to “one last Christmas” together near the turn of the millennium. McGregor will play Chip, the middle child, a Marxist academic who lost his tenure-track position over an affair with a student and now works for a Lithuanian crime boss defrauding American investors.”

Baumbach and Franzen are also serving as producers alongside Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin, whose credits include The Social Network, Moneyball, and No Country For Old Men (the last of which he won his Oscar for), and who’s worked with Baumbach several times in the past, including on his most recent films, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Greenberg.

Though I’ve not yet read Franzen’s novel, I have coincidentally enough just had it come through the post after ordering it a week ago, and am now looking forward to reading it even more. It’s meant to be a brilliant novel, and it’s shaping up to be a brilliant adaptation by the sounds of it.

McGregor will next be seen in Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire, due out on 20th January next year, followed by Salmon Fishing in the Yemen on 9th March, both very much anticipated. With The Corrections expected to air on HBO in 2013, the next two years are looking pretty brilliant for the actor.

Back in July, we reported that Ron Howard’s epic vision for his adaptation of Stephen King’s seven-novel The Dark Tower series had collapsed when Universal pulled out of financing the project.

Howard had planned for the adaptation to be made through the mediums of both film and television, with his vision including a trilogy of films and two seasons of a television series all connected to the same project. A mammoth task, but if anyone could do it, Ron Howard could.

Apparently, Universal didn’t agree – or they at least weren’t willing to put their financial faith in the project. Which, admittedly, is a little understandable, since it would no doubt come at a big cost with a big risk attached.

What is excellent news, however, is that The Playlist are now reporting that the project has not been as dead as everyone first thought. Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer have been working with screenwriter Akiva Goldsman to develop the project into something they can still get made. In an interview Grazer did with The Playlist for Tower Heist, he also spoke to about The Dark Tower still being very much alive:

“We found a way to cut out $45 million out of the budget without changing the scope and actually giving it a good ending,” Grazer said, suggesting a heavily re-worked approach. “In the $140 million draft, the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying. Now, we’ve got $45 million, $50 million out of the way and a really satisfying ending. It’s gonna get made.”

He’s also been speaking to MTV, and has told them that HBO has come on board, and it sounds like the project has finally found its home for the television series.

“We’re going to do ['The Dark Tower'] with HBO… We’ll do the TV with HBO, and we’ll do the movie with… to be determined. We’ll do it right.”

With HBO now giving their support for the series, hopefully that will mean that another studio will now step in to ensure that the project get made, especially now with a trimmed down budget – though Grazer assures us that its integrity has not been sacrificed at all to do it, and that it’s even allowed for a more satisfying finish.

Javier Bardem is still thought to be attached in the lead role, but what isn’t yet clear is if there is still to be a trilogy of films, or just one now. The plan was originally to make the first film, then follow it with the first TV season, followed the second film, the second season, and then the final film. An epic vision, and one which could definitely have the potential to make for utterly incredible and engrossing viewing, unlike pretty much anything else happening in the world of television and film at the moment. Whether there will still be a trilogy remains to be seen, but either way, I really hope that this project will continue to move forward in the coming weeks and months.

Not having Sky Atlantic, I missed Game of Thrones when it aired earlier this year, but I hear that it was a pretty amazing first season to the TV series, and it won Peter Dinklage an Emmy at this month’s awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, as well as gaining a host of other nominations.

HBO have now put out a very short teaser trailer for the second season, courtesy of HBO which is due to start airing in the spring next year.

Taken from the series’ Facebook page,

“Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plots, lust and intrigues; to the vast and savage eastern lands; all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men…all will play the ‘Game of Thrones.’”

The teaser really is just a quick tease, with more than half a year left to go until the second season starts up, and we can no doubt look forward to bigger and better glimpses in the months to come. For now, we can enjoy Sean Bean telling us about the terrors of the night.

According to Bleeding Cool,

“The phrase is something of a mantra for Melisandre of Asshai, a character introduced in the second of George R.R Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire books, and therefore the second series of A Game of Thrones.”

With any luck, the first season will see its DVD/Blu-Ray release sometime soon so that I can play a little bit of catch-up before the second season starts. Without further ado, here’s the teaser trailer.

Having negotiated the treacherous waters of getting approval for his pilot episode, Spike Lee has now started casting a new boxing drama that he is producing and directing for HBO. Set in Newark, New Jersey, Da Brick is all about a young man who is released from juvenile detention on his 18th birthday and tries to find himself and his place amidst those around him.

That 18 year old, Donnie, will be played by John Boyega, hot-as-you-like off the back of his charismatic performance as Moses in Attack the Block, which after great reviews in the UK is starting to get real word-of-mouth traction in the US as well. Also cast are Milauna Jemai (FlashForward) as Donnie’s mother and Julito McCullum (The Wire’s Namond Brice) as his best friend Kevin.

Mike Tyson is on board as an executive producer, with the show said to be drawing on elements of his upbringing and John Ridley will be writing the series.

Thanks to THR.

All is very much busy on the remake front with news from Deadline that director Mimi Leder has chosen her next big budget project – a new adaptation of famed World War One novel, All Quiet on the Western Front.

The story (which was turned into a 1930 Oscar-winning film, and remade again as a TV movie in 1979) focuses on a group of German soldiers’ extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and their subsequent feelings of disconnection from society upon returning home after the battles.

Up until she was recently ousted by Catherine Hardwicke with Twilight, Leder was Hollywood’s biggest money-making female director (a title gained via her 1998 meteor disaster epic, Deep Impact). She’s been away from the big screen for a few years now, working in the TV industry (where she first made her name) and she recently directed the season finale of Luck, the forthcoming Michael Mann-produced HBO series that stars Dustin Hoffman.

CBS executives must have raised a glass and said “Cheers” when the news of Laurence Fishburne’s replacement for their long-running TV show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, was announced.

That’s right, none other than famed Bostonian bartender Sam Malone (Mr. Ted Danson) will join the series for the 12th-season premiere which is due for transmission on September 21st in the US. Danson (currently winning plaudits for his turn as an eccentric, pot-smoking magazine magnate in the quirky HBO comedy, Bored to Death) will take over from Fishburne, who has just finished a four-year stint on the show.

The much underrated Danson is certainly an interesting choice, and as one of our fellow HeyUGuys tweeted earlier, here’s hoping they do an episode where he has to investigate a triple homicide involving a postman, accountant and a barmaid.

News via The Wrap

Barry Levinson (Sphere, Sleepers, Rain Man) recently directed Al Pacino to Emmy-winning glory as Jack Kevorkian in HBO’s “You Don’t Know Jack”. They are already looking to unite again for “Gotti: Three Generations, but before that they look to be squeezing in another collaboration, The Humbling.

The Humbling is an adaptation of the Philip Roth novel, about a stage actor in his declining years who is revitalised by a relationship with a much younger woman, following his retirement to his New York farmhouse. The screenplay has been written by Levinson, along with Buck Henry (The Graduate, Catch-22, To Die For) and Michal Zebede.

Levinson and Pacino are going to need to get their skates on, with their respective slates becoming increasingly congested. Hopefully The Humbling will be given their full attention and will result in an end product deserving of their considerable talent.

Source: Deadline.

To mark the June 20^th DVD release of HBO’s new comedy Bored To Death, we’re giving you the chance to win one of three DVD boxsets of the complete first season.

From writer and series creator Jonathan Ames, this Emmy® award-winning hit stars a hilariously outstanding cast including Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Limited, Rushmore), Zach Galifianakis (Due Date, The Hangover) and Ted Danson (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Cheers).

The quirky eight episode series follows the misadventures of a fictional Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) as he moonlights from his job as a magazine writer to follow his dream of becoming a private detective. After a painful break-up with his girlfriend (Olivia Thirlby) thanks to his fondness for white wine and weed, Jonathan finds himself bored and in need of a new adventure to help overcome his writer’s block, so is inspired to advertise himself online as an unlicensed private eye. His usual second career choice sees Ames stumbling from one crazy situation to another including some interesting cases of missing persons, infidelity and espionage in the Big Apple.

Ames’ two companions and confidants come in the form of Ray Hueston (Zach Galifianakis), a comic book illustrator and best friend who is appalled by the idea of pretending to be a detective, and George Christopher (Ted Danson), Ames’ high-profile and womanizing editor who doesn’t care about his moonlighting schemes and sees Jonathan as an escape from his own boredom.

Want to win a copy? Correctly answer the question below to be in with a chance:

What name is shared by the writer of, and main character in, Bored To Death?

1. Jonathan Ames
2. Frank Darabont
3. Ricky Gervais

Hilarity ensues with Bored To Death out June 20^th!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 20th June at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Treme Season 1 is released on DVD and Blu-ray next Monday, 30th May (pre-order your copy here) and HBO Home Entertainment have give us this exclusive clip from the TV show. Treme comes from David Simon, the man responsible for shows like The Wire and Generation Kill and stars Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Life Support), Clarke Peters (The Wire, Damages, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn), Academy Award® nominee Melissa Leo (The Fighter, Homicide and HBO’s forthcoming Mildred Pierce) and Khandi Alexander (award-winning performances in David Simon’s The Corner and CSI: Miami). Also starring are John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, The West Wing) and Steve Zahn (Sunshine Cleaning, Happy Texas) in his first television series.

The sprawling ten-part series follows musicians, chefs, Mardi Gras Indians and ordinary New Orleanians as they try to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture three months after the greatest calamity to ever befall the Southern States. The very first scene hit with the reality of a disaster that impacts on every possible level, physically, emotionally and spiritually. As the series unfolds we experience the stoicism and camaraderie that surfaces in the wake of travesty.

From the dystopian streets of Baltimore’s The Wire, to the rich tapestry of a culturally unique New Orleans, David Simon has once again built a city.

To  find out more about the show, watch this exclusive clip below.

Alan Ball’s True Blood was one of those shows which arrived on UK shores with a wave of great Stateside reviews and the popularity of the  TV DVD boxset enabled it to find its way into the hearts and groins of the British viewing public. Now Season Three comes to Blu-ray and DVD – so is it worth throwing your hard earned at it? Let’s find out shall we?

We’ve come a long way from the slow burning revelations of the world of Sookie Stackhouse and the co-habitual culture of vampires and humans, which was a great hook in the first series and seduced many a fang fanatic who graduated from the peppy, wickedly witty world of Buffy to a far more adult tale of bloodlust. Kicking the ‘super’ out of ‘supernatural’ gave True Blood its foundation and the first series did a great job of showing the world of Sookie and her fangman Bill (Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer)  as the small town of Bon Temps opened up to their new arrivals revealing secrets and a far darker world than was originally presented.

I enjoyed the first series a lot with its murder mystery element which went some way to contextualising the the sex and violence which became a huge part of the show’s draw. The second lost me a little until the very end with the Maryann character and the resulting townbound chaos which contrasted well with the moribund relationship shenanigans between the various couplings which began to grate. The less said about the Sunshine Church subplot the better.

So here we are as the third season rolls around with another twelve episodes of vicious death, bloodsplattered banging and things that go bump in the night and there’s a slight return to form with the introuction of a decent villain in the form of Vampire King of Mississippi played with relish and not a small amount of self parody by Denis O’Hare. The series follows on directly from the last episode which had Bill kidnapped and much of the early part of the series deals with Sookie trying to find him.

Show regulars Layfayette and Sookie’s brother Jason suffer from some weak subplots which is a shame as Nelsan Ellis and Ryan Kwanten bring a lot of the spark to the proceedings  and when the show works it does so because there’s a wit with the wickedness. Season two felt hollow as the town’s backstories began to pollute the mix, so in the third series with Bill’s kidnapping and the subsequent Vampire King storyline is great fun. The league of Werewolves does peter out a little without adding too many new characters (though a potential new love interest for Sookie does raise the game for a few episodes) but it’s the Sookie and Bill show that gets the third season’s blood up. The final episodes of the series really hits its stride and the climax is worth waiting for, setting up for a very interesting fourth season.

It’s always difficult reviewing these boxsets because it’s unlikely that anyone unfamiliar with the series would choose to step into the world three seasons in and the people who will buy this boxset will already be fans of the show – the only advice I can offer is that if you want your vampires without mysticism but with a boatload of sex this is your show. It’s R-rated Buffy without the pop culture wisecracks and likeable characters and it has more balls than a thousand Twilight films could muster.

At its best it is addictive television and the boxset will allow you to roll right through the series, when it falters it feels sluggishly tethered to its backstories and subplots which go nowhere. The Blu-ray looks the business with a brilliant picture and there is a scary amount of TV spots and character clips as well as the nicely put together commentaries and Enchanced Viewing options to complement the series. The True Blood Lines extra has bios for all the show’s characters and is a nice touch.

In short if you are a fan then HBO have done you proud with this set, and it’s a show which has the potential to be brilliant and this season achieves that, though perhaps not as often as I’d have liked.

The Blu-ray and DVD Boxset is out right now.

And for the True Blooders here’s the recently released trailer for the next season,

HBO have sent over a brand new and exclusive clip for True Blood Season 3 which hits UK shops on both DVD and Blu-ray 23rd May (order your copy here).

The hype refuses to die as the sexiest and most addictive show on TV returns with TRUE BLOOD: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 23 MAY 2011, from HBO Home Entertainment. The entire 12 episode season will also be available to download from iTunes and a Complete Season One to Three box-set will also be released on both formats on the same day. So if you’ve not yet been bitten, now is the time to offer yourself to the glamorous charms and get addicted from Season One.

In Bon Temps, everyone has something to hide, but when new threats emerge, no one can conceal the secrets of their past. After Sookie (Anna Paquin) discovers that Bill (Stephen Moyer) has been kidnapped, she heads to Mississippi where she becomes entangled in a world ruled by a pack of vicious werewolves and the powerful Vampire King, Russell Edgington (Denis O Hare). There, her powers resurface and she learns that Bill may not be trusted. Eric (Alexander Skarsgård) is also drawn to the King’s domain to settle an old score; Tara (Rutina Wesley) dives deep into turmoil; Jason (Ryan Kwanten) falls for a mysterious woman; Lafayette (Nelson Ellis) can’t avoid love or demons; Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) sharpens her vampire skills; and Sam (Sam Trammel) uncovers the truth about his birth family. It all leads up to the revelation of the series… Sookie’s real identity.

HBO have released the first look image of Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right) as Sarah Palin in HBO’s Game Change.

Game Change is about the 2008 presidential election and follows John McCain’s campaign, from his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate to their ultimate defeat in the general election.

Ed Harris, Woody Harrelson, Melissa Farman, Larry Sullivan and Jamey Sheridan will star opposite Moore.

Jay Roach (Meet the Parents) is attached to direct, with production set to begin on Wednesday.

Check out the first look image below:

Source: THR

Marisa Tomei (Cyrus), Alison Pill (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Olivia Munn (Date Night) are in talks to star in Aaron Sorkin’s HBO drama series.

Tentatively titled More as the Story Develops, the Scott Rudin-produced HBO series will be set behind the scenes at a cable news show, with Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale) set as the male lead, Will McAllister.

Tomei will star as the show’s executive producer, Pill as a young associate producer on the show, while Munn will play a financial analyst who works at the same network.

Greg Mottola (Paul) will direct the pilot episode, with production expected to begin shortly.

Source: The Playlist