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Update: October 29, 2019
GAME OF THRONES Prequel Starring Naomi Watts Not Moving Forward at HBO
The untitled Game of Thrones prequel from Jane Goldman is not moving forward at HBO.
Said to focus on the "Age of Heroes" and the first-ever battle between man and White Walker, Goldman's project — which had filmed a pilot over the summer — will not be advancing to series, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. According to sources, Goldman e-mailed the cast to share the news. HBO, as it typically does on projects in development, declined comment.
The news comes shortly after word of HBO nearing a deal to produce a second pilot based in the world of Game of Thrones, from the minds of author George R.R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal. The series is said to focus on the reign of Targaryen kings in the lead-up to the events of Game of Thrones, aligning the vision of the project much more closely to the days of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) than the now-scrapped Naomi Watts-starring prequel — though still quite a bit earlier than the events of the Emmy-winning HBO series, which wrapped its final season in May.
Following the series finale, THR spoke with HBO's Casey Bloys for an update on timing for the next iteration in the Thrones franchise. His response at the time: "We're shooting the pilot in June, you can do the math and figure out when it would be on the air. What I'm not doing is working backwards by saying, 'This has to be on the air by this date.' We want to do the best show possible. This is a pilot, so we're doing it the old-fashioned way, which is shooting a pilot. My expectation is it will be great and we'll move forward and it'll move along on a regular TV timetable. I don't want to speculate any dates."
Featuring a sprawling cast including Watts, Miranda Richardson, Joshua Whitehouse, Marquis Rodrigez and more, Goldman's untitled Thrones prequel was said to take place during the Age of Heroes, thousands of years before the events of Thrones. In this period of Westeros history, the Seven Kingdoms weren't even a twinkle in the eye, as the continent was separated into dozens of their own kingdoms. It was an age dominated by heroic figures like Bran the Builder, credited with creating the Wall, and Lann the Clever, credited with founding House Lannister.
HBO's logline added: "Only one thing is for sure: From the horrifying secrets of Westeros' history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend — it's not the story we think we know." Now, it is a story that will not be told.
That HBO would pass on this Thrones prequel comes as a shocker, but is not totally out of the blue. The original pilot for what would become the premium cable network's biggest hit ever was originally reshot, recast and redeveloped. Sources say HBO wasn't thrilled with the final cut of the Watts-led pilot and asked for changes in edits before scrapping the entire thing. Still, expanding the world of Thrones remains a top priority for the pay cabler, which is under new parent company WarnerMedia (formerly AT&T). This is the first time HBO has ever revisited one of its scripted originals — announced before its Deadwood movie (which provided a proper ending for the series) and the upcoming Sopranos feature. Game of Thrones is a global mega-hit and huge revenue driver for the Casey Bloys-led network. The franchise is worth billions, with foreign sales and merchandising factored in.
HBO, for its part, has been on an aggressive buying spree as it looks to compete with billion-dollar streaming competitors from the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and forthcoming Apple TV+, among others. The Throneslibrary will be a key asset for WarnerMedia's own arrival into the streaming wars, with HBO Max expected to launch in April.
The pilot pass arrives a day after Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss walked away from a planned trilogy of Star Wars feature films. The duo, who will be credited as executive producers on anything Thrones related at HBO, departed their overall deal with the premium outlet for a five-year, $250 million film and TV pact with Netflix.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-naomi-watts-led-prequel-dead-at-hbo-1250795
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Update: October 30, 2018
Naomi Watts to Star in GAME OF THRONES Prequel from HBO
HBO has found the cornerstone of its Game of Thrones prequel. Two-time Oscar nominee Naomi Watts has been tapped to star in the as-yet untitled project from creator Jane Goldman and George R.R. Martin.
The drama, picked up to pilot in June, is set thousands of years before the events of the HBO flagship. The story chronicles the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. A logline from the network teased the plot without divulging any specifics: "Only one thing is for sure: From the horrifying secrets of Westeros' history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend — it's not the story we think we know."
Watts will play a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret. The character's name is not being revealed.
The pilot is based on a story from Goldman and Martin, with the teleplay credited to Goldman. Goldman will also serve as showrunner. In addition to Goldman and Martin, executive producers on the series include current Game of Thrones producer Vince Gerardis, as well as Damages and Bloodline co-creator Daniel Zelman and Jim Danger Gray. Chris Symes will serve as a co-EP.
Goldman and Martin's Game of Thrones prequel is the first of several potential series set in the world of Westeros to move forward at HBO beyond the script phase. In May 2017, a multitude of writers were revealed by the pay cabler to be working on what Martin himself has described as "successor shows." Those writers include Goldman, Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island), Brian Helgeland (Legend), Carly Wray (Westworld) and Game of Thrones veteran Bryan Cogman. Game of Thrones creators and showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are not involved in the successor show effort, focusing instead on the forthcoming final season of Game of Thrones after more than a decade spent wandering the world of the Seven Kingdoms.
Speaking previously with The Hollywood Reporter, HBO programming president Casey Bloys said that any Game of Thrones successors, if greenlighted, would not air "until at least a year after the final season." The exec also added that he did not expect every one of the scripts to move forward beyond the page.
For her part, Watts has earned two lead actress Oscar nominations (for 21 Grams and The Impossible) and also counts starring roles in such films as Mulholland Drive, King Kong and Birdman. On the TV side, her credits include Showtime's Twin Peaks revival and Netflix's Gypsy, the latter of which she also executive produced. The actress most recently starred in Ophelia and will next appear in Once Upon a Time in Staten Island, The Wolf Hour, Boss Level and Luce.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/naomi-watts-star-game-thrones-prequel-hbo-1155246
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Update: September 20, 2017
GAME OF THRONES Writer Bryan Cogman Developing a 5th Prequel Series
There’s a fifth Game of Thrones prequel series in the works, and the project’s writer is a familiar name to the fantasy drama’s fans with a massive amount of Westeros experience.
EW can exclusively report that Thrones co-executive producer Bryan Cogman is penning a drama series follow-up to the Emmy-winning blockbuster. Cogmandeveloped the project by working closely with author George R.R. Martin, who cryptically referenced the existence of an additional unconfirmed prequel on his blog months ago.
Since GoT showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have declined to be involved with the prequels (and with Martin already involved two of the other four), Cogman is arguably the next-best possible addition to the prequel squad from the show’s current creative team.
Cogman has been with Thrones since the first season when he was brought on board as an assistant to Benioff and Weiss. While the GoT showrunners are the show’s hands-on chief executives who pen most of the scripts and occasionally direct as well, Cogman has written plenty of stellar episodes along the way and ranks as the show’s third-most prolific writer. Some of his hours include season 7’s intricately plotted “Stormborn,” season 4’s “The Laws of Gods and Men” (which featured Tyrion Lannister on trial) and season 3’s “Kissed by Fire” (which included Jaime Lannister’s bathtub confession to Brienne).
In a 2011 interview with Westeros.org, Cogman discussed in some detail how he joined the series and described the first (of many) times that he read Martin’s debut A Song of Ice and Fire novel. “I immediately fell in love with the book from page one, as most people do,” Cogman recalled. “It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had reading anything. It’s inspired storytelling, that’s all there is to it, and the characters are so rich, the themes are so varied. I love it.”
Cogman was also the rare GoT producer to wade into the Twitter tempest to interact with fans, but quit the social network a month ago to focus on the show’s final season (and, unbeknownst to fans, this prequel project).
There are no specific story details yet available for any of the new GoT projects. But Martin has ruled out tackling Robert’s Rebellion (noting fans already know all the major plot points from that war anyway) or mining his Dunk & Egg tales (as they are still being written).
Also: All the prequel projects are set before the events in Game of Thrones and do not involve any members of the current cast (the term “spinoff” is frequently used to describe these projects though it’s not technically correct).
Like all TV projects in development, none of the prequels are guaranteed to air. HBO programming president Casey Bloys has said that he might only eventually greenlight one of them. The executive also recently said that any Game of Thrones prequel won’t air until at least a year after the flagship series concludes. GoT is expected to return for its final season in either late 2018 or 2019. So we’re probably looking at 2020 until we see a follow-up GoT title.
Game of Thrones Writer Bryan Cogman Developing a 5th Prequel Series
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Update: July 26, 2017
GAME OF THRONES Spinoff Won't Air Until at Least a Year After the Final Season
HBO programming president Casey Bloys reaffirmed that he will not steal any thunder from the final season of Game of Thrones.
"The No. 1 priority in all of this is the final season of Game of Thrones. I don't want to do anything with a spinoff or anything that detracts or distracts from that," Bloys told reporters including The Hollywood Reporter after his time in front of the press Wednesday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour. "That season will happen, and my guess is it would be at least a year before you saw anything else. What I don't want is the attention to be drawn from the final season, which I think is going to be epic and amazing, and somehow have the distraction of a new Game of Thrones airing right after that. It's best to separate it and that's what we'll do."
Bloys' comments follow a July 12 interview with THR when the executive said he'd like to see at least one of the prequel series move forward. That's still the plan. "We'll be lucky to get one that hits and we're hopeful and we'll see," he said.
The eighth and final season — which will consist of six episodes — will not premiere until after showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss feel as if they are out of the woods in the production process. Bloys said Wednesday that the scripts for the final season "are written" and the showrunners are currently "boarding it all out" as they attempt to "get a sense for when they're going to shoot" the globe-trotting series.
Bloys reiterated that the final season would air on HBO — not in Imax theaters before subscribers see it — and that the running time for each of the six episodes is something he has spoken about with the producers. "I imagine they'll be longer but … I'm not sure [how long]," he said. "We haven't had that discussion yet because I don't know how long the episodes are going to be. Two hours per episode seems like it would be excessive, but it's a great show, so who knows?"
Given the success of the franchise — Game of Thrones is HBO's most-watched series ever — Bloys jump-started the development process by hiring writers to create four prequel series. None of them will feature current characters from the beloved fantasy drama. Thrones creator George R.R. Martin is involved in all four (potentially five) of what he calls "successor shows," while showrunners Weiss and Benioff will walk away from the franchise to focus on straight-to-series HBO drama Confederate.
Should one of the prequels move forward, it would mark the first time HBO has launched a spinoff from one of its preexisting programs. As it stands now, all four prequels are in their infancy, and Bloys has yet to see so much of an outline, let alone a script. As he told THR, he is in no rush to get one on the air and is committed to giving subscribers the eighth and final season and not using it as a platform to launch a new series.
A 'Game of Thrones' Spinoff Wouldn't Air Until "At Least a Year" After Final Season
GAME OF THRONES Prequel Starring Naomi Watts Not Moving Forward at HBO
The untitled Game of Thrones prequel from Jane Goldman is not moving forward at HBO.
Said to focus on the "Age of Heroes" and the first-ever battle between man and White Walker, Goldman's project — which had filmed a pilot over the summer — will not be advancing to series, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. According to sources, Goldman e-mailed the cast to share the news. HBO, as it typically does on projects in development, declined comment.
The news comes shortly after word of HBO nearing a deal to produce a second pilot based in the world of Game of Thrones, from the minds of author George R.R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal. The series is said to focus on the reign of Targaryen kings in the lead-up to the events of Game of Thrones, aligning the vision of the project much more closely to the days of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) than the now-scrapped Naomi Watts-starring prequel — though still quite a bit earlier than the events of the Emmy-winning HBO series, which wrapped its final season in May.
Following the series finale, THR spoke with HBO's Casey Bloys for an update on timing for the next iteration in the Thrones franchise. His response at the time: "We're shooting the pilot in June, you can do the math and figure out when it would be on the air. What I'm not doing is working backwards by saying, 'This has to be on the air by this date.' We want to do the best show possible. This is a pilot, so we're doing it the old-fashioned way, which is shooting a pilot. My expectation is it will be great and we'll move forward and it'll move along on a regular TV timetable. I don't want to speculate any dates."
Featuring a sprawling cast including Watts, Miranda Richardson, Joshua Whitehouse, Marquis Rodrigez and more, Goldman's untitled Thrones prequel was said to take place during the Age of Heroes, thousands of years before the events of Thrones. In this period of Westeros history, the Seven Kingdoms weren't even a twinkle in the eye, as the continent was separated into dozens of their own kingdoms. It was an age dominated by heroic figures like Bran the Builder, credited with creating the Wall, and Lann the Clever, credited with founding House Lannister.
HBO's logline added: "Only one thing is for sure: From the horrifying secrets of Westeros' history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend — it's not the story we think we know." Now, it is a story that will not be told.
That HBO would pass on this Thrones prequel comes as a shocker, but is not totally out of the blue. The original pilot for what would become the premium cable network's biggest hit ever was originally reshot, recast and redeveloped. Sources say HBO wasn't thrilled with the final cut of the Watts-led pilot and asked for changes in edits before scrapping the entire thing. Still, expanding the world of Thrones remains a top priority for the pay cabler, which is under new parent company WarnerMedia (formerly AT&T). This is the first time HBO has ever revisited one of its scripted originals — announced before its Deadwood movie (which provided a proper ending for the series) and the upcoming Sopranos feature. Game of Thrones is a global mega-hit and huge revenue driver for the Casey Bloys-led network. The franchise is worth billions, with foreign sales and merchandising factored in.
HBO, for its part, has been on an aggressive buying spree as it looks to compete with billion-dollar streaming competitors from the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and forthcoming Apple TV+, among others. The Throneslibrary will be a key asset for WarnerMedia's own arrival into the streaming wars, with HBO Max expected to launch in April.
The pilot pass arrives a day after Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss walked away from a planned trilogy of Star Wars feature films. The duo, who will be credited as executive producers on anything Thrones related at HBO, departed their overall deal with the premium outlet for a five-year, $250 million film and TV pact with Netflix.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-naomi-watts-led-prequel-dead-at-hbo-1250795
______________________________________________________
Update: October 30, 2018
Naomi Watts to Star in GAME OF THRONES Prequel from HBO
HBO has found the cornerstone of its Game of Thrones prequel. Two-time Oscar nominee Naomi Watts has been tapped to star in the as-yet untitled project from creator Jane Goldman and George R.R. Martin.
The drama, picked up to pilot in June, is set thousands of years before the events of the HBO flagship. The story chronicles the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. A logline from the network teased the plot without divulging any specifics: "Only one thing is for sure: From the horrifying secrets of Westeros' history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend — it's not the story we think we know."
Watts will play a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret. The character's name is not being revealed.
The pilot is based on a story from Goldman and Martin, with the teleplay credited to Goldman. Goldman will also serve as showrunner. In addition to Goldman and Martin, executive producers on the series include current Game of Thrones producer Vince Gerardis, as well as Damages and Bloodline co-creator Daniel Zelman and Jim Danger Gray. Chris Symes will serve as a co-EP.
Goldman and Martin's Game of Thrones prequel is the first of several potential series set in the world of Westeros to move forward at HBO beyond the script phase. In May 2017, a multitude of writers were revealed by the pay cabler to be working on what Martin himself has described as "successor shows." Those writers include Goldman, Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island), Brian Helgeland (Legend), Carly Wray (Westworld) and Game of Thrones veteran Bryan Cogman. Game of Thrones creators and showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are not involved in the successor show effort, focusing instead on the forthcoming final season of Game of Thrones after more than a decade spent wandering the world of the Seven Kingdoms.
Speaking previously with The Hollywood Reporter, HBO programming president Casey Bloys said that any Game of Thrones successors, if greenlighted, would not air "until at least a year after the final season." The exec also added that he did not expect every one of the scripts to move forward beyond the page.
For her part, Watts has earned two lead actress Oscar nominations (for 21 Grams and The Impossible) and also counts starring roles in such films as Mulholland Drive, King Kong and Birdman. On the TV side, her credits include Showtime's Twin Peaks revival and Netflix's Gypsy, the latter of which she also executive produced. The actress most recently starred in Ophelia and will next appear in Once Upon a Time in Staten Island, The Wolf Hour, Boss Level and Luce.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/naomi-watts-star-game-thrones-prequel-hbo-1155246
______________________________________________________
Update: September 20, 2017
GAME OF THRONES Writer Bryan Cogman Developing a 5th Prequel Series
There’s a fifth Game of Thrones prequel series in the works, and the project’s writer is a familiar name to the fantasy drama’s fans with a massive amount of Westeros experience.
EW can exclusively report that Thrones co-executive producer Bryan Cogman is penning a drama series follow-up to the Emmy-winning blockbuster. Cogmandeveloped the project by working closely with author George R.R. Martin, who cryptically referenced the existence of an additional unconfirmed prequel on his blog months ago.
Since GoT showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have declined to be involved with the prequels (and with Martin already involved two of the other four), Cogman is arguably the next-best possible addition to the prequel squad from the show’s current creative team.
Cogman has been with Thrones since the first season when he was brought on board as an assistant to Benioff and Weiss. While the GoT showrunners are the show’s hands-on chief executives who pen most of the scripts and occasionally direct as well, Cogman has written plenty of stellar episodes along the way and ranks as the show’s third-most prolific writer. Some of his hours include season 7’s intricately plotted “Stormborn,” season 4’s “The Laws of Gods and Men” (which featured Tyrion Lannister on trial) and season 3’s “Kissed by Fire” (which included Jaime Lannister’s bathtub confession to Brienne).
In a 2011 interview with Westeros.org, Cogman discussed in some detail how he joined the series and described the first (of many) times that he read Martin’s debut A Song of Ice and Fire novel. “I immediately fell in love with the book from page one, as most people do,” Cogman recalled. “It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had reading anything. It’s inspired storytelling, that’s all there is to it, and the characters are so rich, the themes are so varied. I love it.”
Cogman was also the rare GoT producer to wade into the Twitter tempest to interact with fans, but quit the social network a month ago to focus on the show’s final season (and, unbeknownst to fans, this prequel project).
There are no specific story details yet available for any of the new GoT projects. But Martin has ruled out tackling Robert’s Rebellion (noting fans already know all the major plot points from that war anyway) or mining his Dunk & Egg tales (as they are still being written).
Also: All the prequel projects are set before the events in Game of Thrones and do not involve any members of the current cast (the term “spinoff” is frequently used to describe these projects though it’s not technically correct).
Like all TV projects in development, none of the prequels are guaranteed to air. HBO programming president Casey Bloys has said that he might only eventually greenlight one of them. The executive also recently said that any Game of Thrones prequel won’t air until at least a year after the flagship series concludes. GoT is expected to return for its final season in either late 2018 or 2019. So we’re probably looking at 2020 until we see a follow-up GoT title.
Game of Thrones Writer Bryan Cogman Developing a 5th Prequel Series
______________________________________________________
Update: July 26, 2017
GAME OF THRONES Spinoff Won't Air Until at Least a Year After the Final Season
HBO programming president Casey Bloys reaffirmed that he will not steal any thunder from the final season of Game of Thrones.
"The No. 1 priority in all of this is the final season of Game of Thrones. I don't want to do anything with a spinoff or anything that detracts or distracts from that," Bloys told reporters including The Hollywood Reporter after his time in front of the press Wednesday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour. "That season will happen, and my guess is it would be at least a year before you saw anything else. What I don't want is the attention to be drawn from the final season, which I think is going to be epic and amazing, and somehow have the distraction of a new Game of Thrones airing right after that. It's best to separate it and that's what we'll do."
Bloys' comments follow a July 12 interview with THR when the executive said he'd like to see at least one of the prequel series move forward. That's still the plan. "We'll be lucky to get one that hits and we're hopeful and we'll see," he said.
The eighth and final season — which will consist of six episodes — will not premiere until after showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss feel as if they are out of the woods in the production process. Bloys said Wednesday that the scripts for the final season "are written" and the showrunners are currently "boarding it all out" as they attempt to "get a sense for when they're going to shoot" the globe-trotting series.
Bloys reiterated that the final season would air on HBO — not in Imax theaters before subscribers see it — and that the running time for each of the six episodes is something he has spoken about with the producers. "I imagine they'll be longer but … I'm not sure [how long]," he said. "We haven't had that discussion yet because I don't know how long the episodes are going to be. Two hours per episode seems like it would be excessive, but it's a great show, so who knows?"
Given the success of the franchise — Game of Thrones is HBO's most-watched series ever — Bloys jump-started the development process by hiring writers to create four prequel series. None of them will feature current characters from the beloved fantasy drama. Thrones creator George R.R. Martin is involved in all four (potentially five) of what he calls "successor shows," while showrunners Weiss and Benioff will walk away from the franchise to focus on straight-to-series HBO drama Confederate.
Should one of the prequels move forward, it would mark the first time HBO has launched a spinoff from one of its preexisting programs. As it stands now, all four prequels are in their infancy, and Bloys has yet to see so much of an outline, let alone a script. As he told THR, he is in no rush to get one on the air and is committed to giving subscribers the eighth and final season and not using it as a platform to launch a new series.
A 'Game of Thrones' Spinoff Wouldn't Air Until "At Least a Year" After Final Season
