The way things are shaping up for Season 5 casting so far, it is looking very likely that as many as 6 major Point-Of-View characters are being cut from the TV series. This does not include the major potential cut that I already put in spoiler tags a few weeks ago. I can still see 2-3 of these POV characters still coming and just not announced yet, but all the evidence points to most of them being cut out.
The best part is that even people who have read the books will be in for weekly surprises from here on out. The worst part is that people who have not read the books are missing out on a couple really awesome characters (as well as some not-so-awesome characters).