In case you guys hadn't heard, the upcoming season is going to deviate big time from the books. Apparently, there will be massive changes, but GRRM is on board.

The way I read the books was Arya's time for screen time is when she is in "traning", going blind etc.

This is the one part that I wanted to see played out as is. But I won't knock it just yet; it could be interesting to see something new, if done right.

WTF? This next season in the books rocks. The last of book 3 is massively good. Why change it? They can't afford the CGI bill for the attack on the wall? Comeon man this is the spoiler thread, give up what you have heard.

It's books 4/5 that lack the imperative feel the other books had.

Do you know someone with GRRM's ear? Can you please tell him to quit spending pages describing the food that they eat and how its prepared?

This is what I am afraid of

They better not cut that scene, it's crucial. And a spectacle...

Agreed. If they cut that scene it will not bode well for other crucial points of the series.

That's all I've heard to this point. If I hear anything else, I'll be happy to share.

Normally, this info is far and few between, so I don't expect much.

I imagine it will be pretty tight-lipped. Not sure I would want to know.

Okay, if I do happen to hear something, I'll be sure to put it in a spoiler tag in this thread because it deviates from the books.

Thanks man. I would like to know what is omitted, not what they are doing, if that makes sense.

As long as they keep the major points intact, I'm cool with that. This was inevitable, IMO. Just too many characters and subplots in the book for a series with a limited budget to keep up with.

I felt GRRM gave Arya way more time than Bran in the books. There were a lot of chapters devoted to Arya in all of the books, IIRC.

They've changed things all along, so I don't think it's going to feel a whole lot different in that sense going forward. My guess would be (as it's been to date) that most of the changes will have to do with the sequence of events. They'll also need to be creative to keep seasons 5 and onward entertaining in a TV sense, because there's nothing like the number of 'oh shit' moments we're likely to see in season 4 (the latter half of SoS) in the last two books. There are a few, but there's really a lot of setup, introduction of new secondary characters and the like in FFC and DWD. I would imagine subplots will be cut and major characters given a bit more focus than they receive in the books. Also think we may see some minor characters who've already been introduced and established more prominent roles on TV than they receive in the books, like Bronn (who basically disappears, as I recall) and Gendry and Brienne (although I guess she is pretty prominent in the books). I think we'll see changes with Tyrion as well, both in King's Landing and after. His relationship with Shae is already different than in the books, so that will probably resolve in a different way. I would imagine his journey outside King's Landing may be changed, as well. But in a larger sense, I think it'll be about the same as we've seen to date, with more focus on Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Cersei, Jamie, etc than in the novels. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't even see some of the secondary plots from the books at all, or if they're changed or combined.

My fear has always been that they're going to leave our Lady Stoneheart entirely.