Dragons and Crows and Hodor, OH MY!

It’s been anticipated since last year, it has a following greater than True Blood and it has DRAGONS!

That’s right Game of Thrones is back (and if you thought the Hobbit you were wrong). The first episode picked up where the last season left off, and from what was seen, we can expect a rather chaotic ride this season.

The sixth Game of Thrones novel,The Winds of Winter, which is what the TV show is based on,is in production. An excerpt was posted to author George R.R. Martin’s website on March 27, 2014, days before the premiere of the new season.

The excerpt concerns a young girl named Mercy, a young girl who “had dreamed of wolves again, of running through some dark pine forest with a great pack at her hells, hard on the scent of prey.” The book itself however, will not be published until 2015, according to a tweet by Martin’s publisher Jane Johnson.

Production had its surprises, just as big as last season. The character Daario Naharis, played by Ed Skrein,was recast after he got the role of a younger Jason Statham in Transporter 4. The new actor playing Daario, Michael Huisman, was on HBO’s Treme and starred as Liam in the TV show, Nashville.

The show, only two episodes in, has 6.3 million viewers, well surpassing where the show was at this point in the previous seasons, with season 3 episode 2 landing at 4.27 million. Seasons 5 and 6 have been confirmed, with little to no word on anything after that. Compared to the book the show is around half way through the third novel, A Storm of Swords.

For those of you who want to jump into the show from this season, here are some things to keep in mind. First, Joffery Lanister, the current king of Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms, is the incestuous son of Cersie, the Queen, and Jamie her brother and a member of the kings guard. Second, Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, is currently going around Essos (the continent to the east of Westeros) gathering an army to overthrow the Lanisters.

Stannis Baratheon, the brother of the former king, is currently working with a sorceress to oust Joffery and anyone who would oppose him. White Walkers, the shows version of zombies, are making their way to The Wall (a massive ice wall separating Westeros from the lands Beyond the Wall). Finally the Stark children are spread across Westeros trying to escape the grasp of the Lanisters.

All in all this season is gearing up to be an amazing one, and definitely has some surprises in store for the fans.