From Tuesday's trades:
*****
HBO has
greenlighted highly anticipated fantasy series "Game of Thrones." The
premium network has picked up the project for a first season debut next spring
(below is the first released photo from the series). Nine episodes plus the
pilot have been ordered. Production will begin in Belfast this June. From the
moment the project was first announced in development, the series based on the
George R.R. Martin novels has generated enormous, perhaps unprecedented, online
interest for a series at such an early stage. The sprawling tale set in the
mythical land of Westeros tells the story of the noble Stark family who become
caught up in high court intrigue when patriarch Eddard (played by Sean Bean)
becomes the king's new right-hand man. The four-and-counting books in the
series would each be used as one season of the series. Unlike many fantasy
novels, the "Thrones" series largely avoids relying on magical
elements and instead goes for brutal realism -- think "Sopranos" with
swords. Martin, a former TV writer ("Beauty and the Beast"), writes
each chapter as a cliffhanger, which should lend itself well to series
translation.

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