Y'know, there's some really exciting TV headed our way at the moment. Aside from the reportedly excellent Boardwalk Empire, which Martin Scorsese's overseeing, HBO is also working on pitch-black fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, or - as it's called after the first book in George RR Martin's sequence - A Game Of Thrones. And a new featurette and TV spot have come online to give you a taste of just how good it's going to be.
The story has a huge cast of characters, focusing on three different clans in a medieval world: the noble and upright Starks, led by Eddard (Sean Bean) and his wife Catelyn (Michelle Fairley); the bluff King Robert Bartheon (Mark Addy) and his calculating in-laws the Lannisters, with Queen Cersei (Lena Headey, who's apparently nicked Eowyn's wig for the role), her twin brother Ser Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and their hunchback brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage); and displaced claimants to the throne the Targaryens, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Viserys (Harry Lloyd). They're the ones you see here with almost white hair.
It's based on the series by George RR Martin, which so far runs to four books in a planned seven, but which hasn't seen a new book published since 2005. Yes, FIVE YEARS ago. Despite reporting the next one well under way at that point, there's been no sign of it since. Still, judging by this featurette he's been visiting the set of the series, so we know now where to picket and demand the next instalment.
A Game Of Thrones is due out sometime next year.