Ned Stark (Sean Bean) must leave his northern stronghold of Winterfell and journey south, to the kingdom’s capitol, to take up duties as the king’s most powerful councellor in HBO’s new fantasy series “Game of Thrones.”

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PREVIEW Game of Thrones

What: The premiere of a 10-episode medieval fantasy, based on the books by George R.R. Martin.

When: 9 p.m. Sunday.

Where: HBO.

In the 1990s, George R.R. Martin was just another fantasy author with a few awards, novels and television episodes to his credit.

Frustrated at hearing that his scripts were too elaborate to be filmed, Martin decided to write novels that were completely unfilmable.

He imagined a sprawling political saga, set in a medieval fantasy kingdom that runs on deceit, plunder, sex and beheadings. While the high lords play their game of thrones, they are ignoring a greater threat — undead monsters of the North who are growing restless and moving toward the cities in the south.

The saga evolved into Martin’s best-selling fantasy series “A Song of Ice and Fire.” And “Game of Thrones,” based on book one in the series, is poised to become the Next Big Thing on HBO. The first of 10 episodes premieres tonight.

Veteran actors Sean Bean (“The Lord of the Rings”), Mark Addy (2010′s “Robin Hood”), Peter Dinklage (“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”) and Lena Headey (“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) head up the cast. Co-executive producers and writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss helmed filming in Ireland and Malta.

Why is an unfilmable book being adapted to television? Advances in computer animation make it easier to film crowds at a joust and massive battles, Martin said in a recent round-table phone interview with TV writers.

If HBO needed proof that fantasy could work on cable television, it only had to look to the success of its cult hit “True Blood.” That show, a mix of Southern Gothic with vampires, proved that a fantasy franchise adapted from a beloved book series could satisfy fans of the book as well as a wider audience.

The cable channel could also see that movies such as “The Lord of the Rings,” the “Narnia” series and the “Harry Potter” films had proved there was an appetite for fantasy.

In promoting “Thrones,” HBO has done everything except hand-deliver a script to every person in America. The cable giant started a behind-the-scenes blog, released several trailers and sneak peeks and sent themed trinkets to selected TV critics. A giant replica of the Iron Throne — think dozens of swords formed into a very uncomfortable chair — is making the rounds of science fiction and comics conventions. The HBO store in New York is selling “Game of Thrones” costumes, and a giant video screen in Hollywood flashes snippets from the show.

HBO even sent food trucks — emblazoned with a “Thrones” poster — around Los Angeles and New York offering free tastes of food pulled from the realm of the book series, like sweet corn fritters, buttered turnips and lemon cake.

The push isn’t for Martin’s fans — they have been following the making of “Game of Thrones” since the pilot was announced — but to introduce his work to a wider audience.

Martin, who is co-executive producer on “Thrones,” expected trailers and sneak peaks, “but food trucks? I never expected food trucks. It’s all amazing. All very exciting.” Grabbing a bite at a “Thrones” food truck was a highlight of his recent trip to Los Angeles.

In return, HBO is hoping for a worldwide audience of dedicated viewers who will buy the DVDs and digital downloads, Benioff said. He and Weiss also participated in round-table phone interviews with TV writers to promote the show.

“Game of Thrones” has been called “The Lord of the Rings” for television, but Frodo and the elves never indulged in wenching and drinking like Martin’s characters do.

Benioff acknowledged that J.R.R. Tolkien’s books greatly influenced Martin, but the two series are very different.

“They’re much more adult in terms of the complexity of the characters and the sexuality of the story,” Benioff said about Martin’s book series. “It’s not a quest narrative about good versus evil. It’s much more about Machiavellian intrigue and political plot twists and pursuit of power or so.”

Judging from the first six episodes of “Thrones,” this is a series that demands that viewers pay attention, then rewards them with a richly imagined world, believable characters and brisk pacing. It’s an excellent adaptation that will thrill Martin’s fans with its fidelity to the books, yet is accessible and engrossing to new viewers.

Early episodes introduce us to the Starks of Winterfell, their northern castle, and their ties to King Robert and his family. Things start off with a blood-spurting beheading, and end with an act of betrayal that leaves a young Stark boy at the edge of death.

We also meet Prince Viserys Targaryen (Harry Lloyd) and his sister Princess Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). They are the last descendants of the once-ruling Targaryen family.

Phil Bicking, editor of the “Game of Thrones” fan website Winter Is Coming, said the books are beloved because they emphasize character over magic.

“It’s not all about elves and wizards. It’s about real people,” said Bicking, who lives in Marlton, N.J.

Martin based his writing on his study of medieval England’s Wars of the Roses, so the political scheming in his books seems close to our own history, Bicking said.

“You never really knew where the story was going to go,” said Bicking, whose site has been the primary source for “Thrones” updates and announcements. “It’s almost like reading a historical book, only a lot more exciting.”

Fans already know Martin’s fictional land of Westeros by heart, but the show will need to attract viewers who are willing to struggle up the learning curve.

Weiss pointed out that the great HBO dramas — “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Deadwood” — have been set in epic worlds with large ensemble casts.

“They all require effort on the part of the viewer, and they all repay that effort a hundredfold for the people who were really willing to invest in them,” Weiss said.

While Benioff and Weiss felt free to drop and add scenes from the book, the major beats have been preserved and the added scenes add an extra texture to the adaptation.

Martin, who worked on “Beauty and the Beast” and the 1980s revival of “The Twilight Zone,” said he understood why material was cut or added. He has collaborated with Benioff and Weiss from the beginning of the project, and visited the sets during filming in Belfast.

“It is my story — same characters and the same principal events,” Martin said.

Robert J. Sawyer, author of the science fiction novel “FlashForward” that spawned the short-lived television show of the same name, pointed out that the fan base for any book is minuscule compared to the audience needed to make a series successful.

“Your loyalty has to be for people who have never encountered the universe before,” said Sawyer, who was a consultant and writer on “FlashForward.”

“It drives existing fans nuts, but that’s the reality,” he said.

His advice to “Game of Thrones’” showrunners? Don’t get too obsessed with fans’ reactions on the Internet. “You have to have confidence in where you’re going,” Sawyer said. “Don’t live and die by the fans’ tweets.”

The plan is to make each book in Martin’s series cover one season’s worth of episodes, if “Game of Thrones” is renewed. The author is writing one episode this season, and plans to write one episode each season if the series is renewed. He would like to write more, “but I have to finish the book,” he said.

He’s referring to “A Dance With Dragons,” the long-awaited fifth novel in his seven-book series that started with 1996′s “A Game of Thrones.” More than 4.5 million copies of the books are in print in the United States, according to publisher Bantam Books.

Martin’s slow writing pace has frustrated his readers. Five years passed between the third book, “A Storm of Swords” (2000) and “A Feast for Crows” (2005), and six years between “Feast” and “Dance.”

Recently, as part of the publicity push for “Thrones,” Bantam announced that “A Dance With Dragons” will hit bookstores in July. Never mind that Martin, on his website, admits that he isn’t finished writing it yet.

If HBO’s “Game of Thrones” moves forward, it’s possible that it could catch up with the books, perhaps forcing the TV show to end in a tangle of unresolved plot threads.

“I think it’s a legitimate concern,” Weiss said. “You’re investing potentially 60 or 70 hours of your life, and I think it’s fair to want to know that there’s somebody at the wheel, and that it’s going to leave you in a place that makes you feel like ultimately it was worth investing that time.”

Martin has confided to Weiss and Benioff how the saga ends.

“I think you can kind of feel in the roughest sense where it’s moving toward,” Benioff said. “It’s got a great momentum to it and we’re the lucky beneficiaries of that, because it’s all something that George thought up many years ago.”

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