Yeah. When I saw Balon my first thought was, 'oh, they're gonna have him fall out of his castle or something'. I think they plan to show his death on screen now.
It always seemed obvious since they've kept Theon in the series through s4. They've also invested much money in those locations and set/costume design to use them only for the few Iron Islands s2 scenes. And with that said, they'll need scenes in s4 to refresh the memories of TV viewers about the brothers and Asha/Yara and the whole Iron islands business before embarking on the Kingsmoot arc which looks set to unfold during s4 and by the end they'll send the "Yara" who failed with her claim back to the north. S5 should start threading with the Winds of Winter Asha chapter we know of (Asha meets Stannis and offers a ransom for Theon, but he refuses - his northern allies wouldn't accept his release - and she ends up begging him to at least behead Theon himself in the Stark fashion)
It looks more and more that for the end of s4 they're planning to have a whole bunch of characters embark to cross the Narrow Sea... Sam on his way to the Citadel, and Arya, perhaps Gendry as Edric, and Tyrion. Perhaps they will come up with a Rickon/Osha s4 arc,
With the North arcs moving forward, it looks more and more like they're planning to cover AFFC and ADWD in part through s4 (moving the most the northern stuff), then through season 5 where they'll bring Dany to the end of ADWD, with perhaps bits and pieces of various storylines left to cover in season 6, mixed with WOW material.
It could well mean they're intending to cut from the series, or greatly simplify, most of the arcs set in Dorne. In KL it could mean S4 will open give or take an episode with Joffrey's death and go on with Margaery vs. Cirsei, and s5 will have Cirsei's fall. Tyrion would escape mid-season or so, perhaps to re appear in the season finale on a ship heading east.
The naval exodus for season finale of S4 sounds pretty plausible. I'd been thinking they'd close with Dany again but IIRC she had second to last for season 2, followed by Sam cowering before the Army of Winter Doom-ness, so Tyrion as season closer leaning on the rail of a ship seems pretty doable. I can't see them ending on Dany unless they want to dump a charred body at her feet or really push things forward and have her fly off. I can't see them holding off Stannis' arrival or even Jon's election till season close and regrettably there's not too many book scenes that really scream 'epic season finale'. It might be dragging things out by I kind of envision 'Mountain vs Red Viper' as closer to the end of the season, maybe even ep. 8 or 9, we'll have to see how they roll things though episode titles might give some clues in advance too.
Thing is with Tyrion, I'll be surprised if he isn't in virtually every episode, they've already shown a willingness to make up scenes for him that weren't really necessary to do 'show not tell' where material harder to put on screen then book is concerned. Tyrion's probably the most popular character in the books and Dinklage does an amazing job with it, plus the Lannister Family's Dysfunctional Relations do make for some of the best character interactions on screen. That really lets them get away with adding in as much as they want. What's humorous is they've managed make Tywin a very sympathetic character so I'd expect an audience outcry as large as for Robb/Catelyn/'Talissa'.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
