Watch: 'Game Of Thrones' Season 4 Behind the Scenes Video

"There are so many quality shows on television that I love and admire but I don't think there's one with the scale of Game of Thrones... it's simply huge."

After teasing fans with those silly albeit effective Vine videos, HBO released the first full trailer for Season 4 of Game of Thrones last week: one that actually represented the immense scale of the fantasy series. And now comes a brief look behind the scenes at the truly epic production that also contains a few new insights into the upcoming episodes. 

From a purely logistical standpoint, there's no denying that the production is immense and each season accomplished is quite a feat. Basically, the Game of Thrones crew — whether it's writer-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss discussing the show's unparalleled scale or production designer Deborah Riley breaking down its crazy schedule — are trying to explain to fans why it takes a full year to create, shoot, and get a new season of the fantasy series onto the small screen. What did they say? Six hundred script pages. nineteen weeks, four countries and two simultaneous shoots. I'd say a 'wow' is in order. 

The spot also mentioned that HBO has brought in six different directors to handle Season 4's ten episodes and the line-up is an impressive collection of the series' best, with Michelle MacLaren ("Second Sons" and "The Bear and The Maiden Fair") once again getting double duty this year and Neil Marshall ("Blackwater") returning to helm the penultimate installment. And though David Benioff and D.B. Weiss wrote most of the episodes, George R.R. Martin has once again taken one on, this time penning the second of the season. 

The 'On the Set' promo can't help but show a few new looks at the upcoming season while going behind the scenes and interviewing several familiar faces. Maisie Williams' Arya shares hows she'll be shooting in two different countries while Ian Glenn's Jorah marvels at the giant yet well-oiled machine that is the Game of Thrones production. We also get to see that he and Emilia Clarke's Daenerys continue their journey in the warmest location while others, like Kit Harrington's Jon Snow, aren't so lucky. The final shot of Jon battling at the Wall is enough to get me excited for 'Winter,' not to mention the mystical image of Isaac Hempstead-Wright's Bran bonding with a Weirwood in the snowy North. 

The spot wouldn't be complete without showing off King's Landing, and there are various looks at new sets and old — as well as glimpses of Jack Gleeson's Joffrey, Lena Headey's Cersei, Natalie Dormer's Margaery and Charles Dance's Tywin. Oh, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's Jamie and Gwndolyne Chritsie's Brienne are also seen all cleaned-up and chummy in the capital city. Peter Dinklage's Tyrion gets the, uh, lion's share of the behind the scenes video, though: once again walking around King's Landing in those shackles and, out of character, commenting on the quality of the scripts. According to him, Season four has the best writing and most unexpected turns of the series thus far. For those that couldn't handle 'The Red Wedding,' you have been warned. 

Game of Thrones returns for its fourth season on Sunday, April 6 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. Based on the novels by George R.R. Martin, the series was adapted by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and stars Peter Dinklage, Kit Harrington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Veronica Mars Gets a Web Spinoff Series on CW

A long time ago, we used to be friends. And then the CW cancelled Veronica Mars. Some of us ranted. Most of us moved on. But we were all drawn back to Neptune the moment Rob Thomas gave us hope that we would have our favorite Marshmallow back in movie form if we helped Kickstart it. In a matter of months, Veronica Mars will arrive in theaters, and from what’s being reported, it doesn’t end there. The series will live on through a digital spinoff. What kind of spinoff, you ask? Which character or characters will be involved? Details are vague at the moment. 

This news comes out of the CW TCA press tour, as reported by Deadline. The CW announced that they’re giving Veronica Mars a spinoff series, which is “for now online only.” And by “for now,” I like to think that maybe — just maybe — there’s a chance if things worked out really well for it, it would be developed into a full series. But that’s just speculation and probably premature at this point, considering we know almost nothing about the digital series, other than that it’s slated for CW’s online branch CW Seed and that Veronica Mars series creator and movie director Rob Thomas will develop it once he finishes up with the feature film, which is due to arrive in theaters March 14. 

In terms of what the spinoff will be or which character(s) it will follow, that may be something Rob Thomas will keep quiet about until after the film releases, assuming the spinoff is too closely linked to the events of the film for Thomas to discuss without spoiling anything. If that’s not the case, perhaps we’ll get some updates between now and the movie release. 

UPDATE: Rob Thomas tweeted this tonight, revealing that the digital series is a comedy centered around Ryan Hansen, who plays Dick Casablancas in Veronica Mars:

The CW web series: a comedy featuring @HiRyanHansen attempting to put together a Dick Casablancas spin-off of #VeronicaMars. No date yet.

— Rob Thomas (@RobThomas) January 16, 2014

So... if it became an actual TV series, would it be the Dick series Hansen's trying to get made, or a continuation of the webseries? Not sure what to make of this just yet. 

As Deadline points out, Rob Thomas has another project in the works for CW. We learned last fall that Thomas was developing DC’s iZombie for the network. Based on a comic series, the story centers on a med student-turned-zombie who takes a job at a coroner’s office, which offers her all the brains she can eat. As brain consumption gives her access to the deceased’s memories, she uses that perk to help her medical examiner boss and a police detective solve crimes. That last part sounds right up Thomas’ alley, and the supernatural side seems like a great fit for the CW. So it’s not entirely surprising to hear that — according to Deadline’s intel — this project has a good shot at getting a pilot order. So there’s that to cross our fingers for as well. 

In the meantime, here’s the trailer for the Veronica Mars movie…

Exclusive: CBS Moving Forward With 'How I Met Your Dad'

Whether or not you’re a fan of the idea of How I Met Your Mother being spun off, it seems CBS is optimistic about the project as they’re moving forward with it. It’s currently titled How I Met Your Dad, and the latest update is that CBS has given the comedy a pilot-production commitment. 

Following the news that How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were teaming with Up All Night’s Emily Spivey for a potential HIMYM offshoot that’s not really a spinoff, comes word that CBS has given the project a pilot-production commitment, and a title that’s just closer enough to its predecessor to be really recognizable, but just modified enough to be awkward. (Why How I Met Your Dad instead of How I Met Your Father?) 

THR says the plan for the pilot is to set it up as a stand-alone, as opposed to doing a back-door planted pilot, which would air at some point during the current, final season of How I Met Your Mother. Examples of the latter approach include The Originals (introduced during The Vampire Diaries episode), The Finder (introduced as an episode of Bones) and Private Practice (introduced during Grey’s Anatomy). But in the case of those examples, the characters starring in the spinoff were all connected somehow to the origin series. It doesn’t sound like that’ll be the case with How I Met Your Dad, as THR says the story will be told from a female point of view, and will be a brand-new story with new characters and a new voice at its center. The site says it “may not” bleed into HIMYM. 

We can certainly argue that this plan to spin off the series — with a show that doesn’t sound like much of a spinoff beyond its efforts to reboot the concept with a new story — is an effort to squeeze some extra juice out of the popularity of the original series without actually having to start from scratch with a new show. And maybe that’s true. Maybe it’s unoriginal. But with Bays, Thomas and Spivey working together, I’d still like to see what they come up with. The benefit to calling this a spinoff is that they can rip off the original concept as much as they want when telling this new story. But on the downside, the standard is going to be set high, and it’s going to take some great casting to bring together a group as great as the original. 

I’ve seen some suggestions that the spinoff should be Ted’s wife side of the story, which is actually a great idea as I think we’d all love to see that, but one major issue to take into consideration there is the timeline. How I Met Your Mother debuted in 2005. Even if Ted’s wife’s side of the story didn’t go back that far, in order for the series to be accurate, the show would have to be set in the not-so-distant past. That could be kind of limiting for the show, considering part of the humor of the series is acknowledging certain events and pop culture references in our present, as Ted tells his kids what things were like at certain points of the story. If the spinoff took a similar approach with its humor, it would make HIMYD almost a period piece, but not quite, and that might get old after a season or two. But a limited series could work. Alas, it sounds like they’re looking to start fresh with this one, and it’s moving to pilot.

Next Agents of SHIELD Episode to Follow Events of 'Thor: The Dark World'

For those who have been waiting for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to have more than just a tangential link to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I have some very good news. According to EW, the episode that is set to air on November 19th - titled "The Well" - will have a direct link to the upcoming Thor: The Dark World, which will be in theaters from 8th November before the episode premieres. 

The magazine has a full official description of the episode, which reads as follows:

“In the aftermath of the events chronicled in the feature film Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World, Coulson and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pick up the pieces–one of which threatens to destroy a member of the team.”

One of the agents being in life threatening peril is serious news for anyone who is even vaguely aware of Joss Whedon's work. Much like how the writer/director "killed off" Agent Coulson in The Avengers, Whedon has a long history of killing off characters that fans are really loving and connecting with - breaking hearts in the process. But which team member will it be? And will they actually bite the bullet in the episode? 

In addition to the episode logline, EW has also posted the full list of guest stars in the episode, and it's worth noting that none of them actually appear in Thor: The Dark World. Instead, the list includes "Peter MacNicol as Professor Elliot Randolph, Michael Graziadei as Jakob Nystrom, Erin Way as Petra Larsen, Toby Wilson as Neils, Alex Neustaedter as Maynard and Sylvia Brindis as Elena.” That said, it's entirely possible that there will be some extra special guest stars that they are keeping a secret for now. Then again they didn't exactly do a good job of the cameo in the second episode... 

"The Well" won't be the next episode that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. airs. Next Tuesday, November 5th, they will be airing a new adventure called "FZZT" and the week after that will be one called "The Hub". You can watch an extended clip from the beginning of the next episode below, which involves a killer who leaves his victims mysteriously floating in the air:

How will "The Well" connect to Thor: The Dark World? You'll just have to see the episode next weekend and then wait to find out.

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