The fifth season of Game of Thrones is officially going down this spring, but that won’t be the only bit of bloody fantasy violence that HBO will be inflicting this year. They’ll also be taking over IMAX movie theaters for one week later this month. Details on both below.
First of all, a few dates to put in your calendar.
Game of Thrones Season 5 is officially premiering on HBO on Sunday, April 12 at 9 PM.
That’s not all though, as HBO has also announced that Game of Thrones will be hitting IMAX theaters for one week starting January 23.
Wait seriously, a movie?
Not quite… it’s actually just the last two episodes of Season 4 (“The Watchers on the Wall” and “The Children”), plus an exclusive trailer for Season 5. I’m guessing HBO sees it as just a cool way for fans to reconnect with the series before the next season lands in the spring.
It is kind of historic though, as this will make the show the first ever TV series to play in the IMAX format. Because Game of Thrones was obviously not shot in IMAX to begin with, the show will be digitally remastered for the big(ger) screen experience.
Again, it will run for one week beginning on January 23 in about 150 theaters across the US. Ticket info is on the IMAX website.
That is a lot of Game of Thrones… so what happened in Season 4 again?
Oh man, what didn’t happen in Games of Thrones last season? Well, a few things technically (don’t click that if you haven’t read the books, I’m just being a jerk)…
Anyways, before Season 5 arrives let’s take a moment to recap all of the crazy shenanigans that went down last year.
The Battle of Castle Black is over.
Jon Snow and Mance Rayder are negotiating when Stannis Baratheon rides in and kicks the crap out of the unaware wildling army. Also Ygritte is dead and that makes Jon very sad.
Bran finds the Heart Tree.
But before they can do anything about it, Bran and friends are attacked by wights. Jojen is killed, but Bran, Meera, and Hodor are rescured by a child of the forest, who takes them to the three-eyed raven from Bran’s visions.
Daenerys puts her dragons away.
Across the sea in Meereen, Daenerys is not going a very good job of ruling her new city. One of her citizens is claiming that the dragons are eating children, so Daenerys chains her pets up in the catacombs (the ones she still has around that is).
The Hound is dead (maybe), and Arya is off to Braavos.
Brienne and Podrick run into Arya and the Hound, and a scuffle ensues. Brienne mortally wounds the Hound, while Arya finally escapes. She boards a ship to Braavos using the coin that she got from Jaqen H’ghar.
The Lannisters are all kinds of messed up.
The Mountain is dying from Oberyn’s poison (after crushing the poor guy’s face in their duel), and Cersei tasks Qyburn (that creepy ex-maester) with saving the big guy at any cost.
Tywin wants Cersei to marry Loras, to cement a partnership between the Tyrells and the Lannisters. Cersei wants no part in that though, and threatens to reveal the fact that she’s been getting intimate with her brother. She then proceeds to get intimate with her brother.
Tyrion meanwhile finds Shae in his dad’s bed, and strangles her to death. He then finds Tywin in the bathroom, and shoots him dead with Joffrey’s crossbow. Tyrion then flees the city with Varys, leaving a considerable power vacuum in King’s Landing…
That is a lot of stuff to keep track of.
Yeah… but it’s Game of Thrones, that’s why we love it. The series returns on April 12, and if you just can’t wait, there’s also the IMAX run which begins on January 23.
