HBO
The most recent season of Game of Thrones
left us shocked (the Wall!), terrified (The Night King has a dragon!),
curious (what the hell is Bran up to?), a little grossed out (Jon Snow
and Daenerys are related… and hooking up...), but mostly anxious for
more. Series creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have taken all the
time they could get to blow out the final six episodes, but we finally
know when Game of Thrones will return. Then after that… nothing.
As author George R. R. Martin wrote, what is dead can never die, and HBO has made good on a rumor that the end of Game of Thrones would be met by even more Game of Thrones.
Exactly what the show(s) will be remains unclear -- but we do know a
little about where things could be headed. Here's every detail on the
upcoming prequel and other potential spinoffs that could set your
theorizing Thrones brain aflame.
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The new Game of Thrones show(s) won't be spinoffs of in the traditional sense
"We are not talking Joey or AfterMASH or even Frasier or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another," Martin wrote on his personal blog.
"So all of you who were hoping for the further adventures of Hot Pie
are doomed to disappointment." So much for our
older-Arya-as-an-assassin-for-hire hopes.
But Maisie Williams is still into the idea of an Arya standalone adventure...
On a recent red carpet, NME cornered the young actress about possibly
resuming her role down the road. “That is a hard question, I don’t
know!" she said. "It depends how my career is after this, how much fun I
have with other things. If I have a feeling I want to be Aria again,
then absolutely. But I want to see all the other things that I didn’t
even know I was capable of doing, get lots of new opportunities.
Although I don’t think it’ll ever be quite one as cool as Aria."
All of the Game of Thrones spinoffs are prequels
Not only will the "successor shows" (Martin's wording) not include characters from the OG run of Thrones,
but none of them -- at least at this stage -- will build off the Season
8 finale. "Some may not even be set on Westeros," the author added.
None of the shows will wind the clock back to Robert's Rebellion
The mystery behind Jon Snow's identity and Game of Thrones
entire global conflict can be traced back to Robert's Rebellion, a
civil war that started with the execution of Rickard Stark by the the
Mad King, Aerys II, and ended with Robert Baratheon taking the throne.
The campaign has been alluded to in nearly every season, but Martin shot
down the idea early on that the Thrones prequels would revisit Ned Stark and Robert's rise in any direct capacity. Leave that to Season 8 and Jon's eventual awakening.
Martin's "Tales of Dunk and Egg" novellas are also out
Following "Dunk," a gallant knight, and his squire "Egg" -- who will go
on to become Aegon V Targaryen, Martin's series of novellas set some 90
years prior to the events in the series has been cited as potential
spinoff material since the very beginning of Thrones. Brace yourself, fans: The Dunk and Egg
adaptation isn't coming anytime soon. "When the day comes that I've
finished telling all my tales of Dunk & Egg, then we'll do a TV show
about them," wrote Martin. "But that day is still a long ways off."
We know who's writing each potential series
While HBO and Martin are tight-lipped on the topics their potential
spinoffs will cover, they have announced which big-time Hollywood
writers were hired to bring the stories to life. The show ideas come
courtesy of Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla); Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service, X-Men: First Class); Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale, L.A. Confidential); and Carly Wray (Mad Men).
Jane Goldman says her show is still rooted in the books
In an interview with IGN, the Kingsman
screenwriter confessed that, as a fan, she aimed to take a morsel from
Martin's existing text and blow it out. "I think I can say if I was able
to say what mine was -- yeah, I think as a book reader or as someone
who watched the series, you would say, 'Oh, that! OK.' Yeah, it would be
recognizable as a past event, but I think that’s probably as far as I
can go." It's a bit of a non-answer answer, but it's better than
nothing.
A fifth writer, and show pitch, was added after the initial announcement
Bryan Cogman, the writer behind many first-run Thrones episodes, has stepped up to develop a fifth idea, reports Entertainment Weekly.
Martin is heavily involved with the world-building
"I've actually been working with all four [now five] of the writers,"
Martin wrote. "Every one of the four has visited me here in Santa Fe,
some of them more than once, and we've spent days together discussing
their ideas, the history of Westeros and the world beyond, and sundry
details found only in The World of Ice & Fire and The Lands of Ice & Fire...
when we weren't drinking margaritas and eating chile rellenos and
visiting Meow Wolf. They are all amazing talents, and I am excited to be
working with them. In between visits, I've been in touch with them by
phone, text, and email, and I expect there will be a lot more
back-and-forth as we move forward."
Don't expect David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to be involved now that they're Star Wars writers
Whichever show moves forward at HBO will likely boast Benioff and Weiss
as producers due to contractual obligations (we wouldn't be here
without them). What they won't be doing is lording over a writer's room;
in February 2018, LucasFilm announced that the duo would spend the next
stretch of their careers writing and producing a new series of Star Wars films. The deal is separate from the post-Last Jedi announcement that director Rian Johnson would helm is own, new trilogy.
"David
and Dan are some of the best storytellers working today," said Kathleen
Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. "Their command of complex characters,
depth of story and richness of mythology will break new ground and
boldly push Star Wars in ways I find incredibly exciting." Thrones will miss them.
Naomi Watts is set to star in a lead role
According to Deadline, none of the classic Game of Thrones cast
is set to appear, but Hollywood actress Naomi Watts is signed on to
star in the first of the forthcoming spin-offs hailing from a story
written by Jane Goldman and George R. R. Martin, who is acting as a
co-executive producer. Watts is said to play a socialite with a dark
secret in a prequel series taking place thousands of years before the
events in Thrones. It’s rumored that the series will cover the
world’s unraveling from the Age of Heroes into a much darker era, and
will dismantle what fans think the know about the history of GoT kingdoms and the White Walkers’ origins.
As for the rest of the cast, Deadline also reported that British actor Josh Whitehouse (Northern Soul, The Happy Worker) will take on another lead role. Though in terms of the large ensemble cast, no further names have been revealed.
The Naomi Watts-led series may be titled The Long Night
George R. R. Martin let it slip that the Naomi Watts-led series is called The Long Night on his personal blog when he shared the news that Watts had been cast. He must have spoken too soon, though: in a later post
he revealed that the title may not actually be quite locked in yet. He
wrote, "HBO has informed me that the Jane Goldman pilot is not (yet)
titled THE LONG NIGHT. That’s is certainly the title I prefer, but for the moment the pilot is still officially UNTITLED." Oops!
If Martin gets his way and the series is called The Long Night, as Game Spot pointed out, it’s likely about a period 8,000 years before GoT
in which a painfully long, destructive winter plagued kingdoms with
death and saw the first arrival of the White Walkers to Westeros. In
this historical period, it was only until a figure known as the Last
Hero united with the Children of the Forest that the army of the dead
was defeated. As it’s been confirmed that the upcoming series will be
set in the Age of Heroes, it’s possible that this moment will be
referenced regardless -- but if it’s in fact called The Long Night, it’s
very possible that it will focus on this to an even greater extent.
Don't expect any of the shows to premiere for at least a year after the Game of Thrones finale
"The number one priority in all of this is the final season of Game of Thrones,
'Casey Bloys, HBO's president of programming, told reporters after a
panel at the 2017 Television Critics Association press tour. "I don't
want to do anything with a spinoff or anything that detracts or
distracts from that."
Check back for more updates as they become available. With only one more season of Game of Thrones left, we know the second winter is coming -- and soon.
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