HBO's 'Game of Thrones' full cast with photos

Has any recent TV show generated more online excitement -- when its not even a TV show yet?

HBO starts shooting its adaptation of George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones" as a pilot next week in Northern Ireland, with additional locations in other countries. Though HBO has plenty of competing projects in development, this is the sort of sprawling and expensive production networks don't typically like to pilot unless they're pretty confident they're also going to series.

Here's the spot-on-looking cast (save one key role that has yet to be announced), with photos:

Also cast, as Drogo, Jason Momoa...  .

PREVIOUS: THR's original scoop breaking HBO ordering "Game of Thrones" and interview with the executive producers...

Thanks to fan sites Tower of the Hand for assembling the cast pics and Winter is Coming for the Momoa shot ....

Follow The Live Feed on Twitter ... Subscribe via RSS / Email

And by and by: For those who haven't read these books ... they are fantastic. Really. Just started a a couple months ago, can't put them down. "Sopranos" with swords. Page turners that break the "rules" of fantasy fiction, a genre I normally don't like. Whereas adapting "Lord of the Rings" seemed downright impossible, putting "Thrones" onto HBO seems like a matter of using cut-and-paste. The dialog is already contemporary, tight and gripping, and you can even guess where each episode will break since so many chapters cliff-hang.