Last year wasn’t great for the “Game of Thrones” franchise. After a lackluster final season (putting it mildly), HBO attempted to quickly get into production on a new spinoff series that would carry the ‘Thrones’ flame for years to come. The network went so far as to film a complete pilot for a prequel series. However, the news continued to get worse, as HBO scrapped the entire project and started fresh on a new series, titled “House of the Dragon.”
And speaking at a recent TCA event (via Deadline), it appears that this change of course is going to result in a bit of an extended hiatus for the “Game of Thrones” franchise.
“They are in the room breaking story right now,” said HBO boss Casey Bloys. “My guess is we’ll see it on the air in ’22.”
The initial plan, as we know it, was to have a new series on the air in 2020, so that the momentum carried by ‘Thrones’ could be capitalized on with the new spinoff. However, that’s not going to be the case anymore, as it will likely mean that George R.R. Martin’s spinoff will debut almost three years after the end of the flagship series. Will fans lose interest by then? Or will their interest be renewed with enough time to process the terrible ending of ‘Thrones?’ These are the questions we’ll only know the answer to in 2022.
As for why the prequel series, dubbed “The Long Night” by Martin, didn’t make it, the HBO boss wasn’t able to point to one reason.
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“Pilots – sometimes they come together, sometimes they don’t. And I would say that was very much the case here. There’s nothing I would point to and say ‘Oh, this was the problem,’” said Bloys.
He added, “That [prequel] was 8,000 years before the current show, so it required a lot more invention. One of the benefits of ‘House of the Dragon’ is there was a text from George and there was a little bit more of a roadmap. [Jane Goldman’s prequel] did have more challenges in terms of establishing a world, but I think she handled that beautifully… there wasn’t one glaring thing.”
While we’ll likely never get a chance to see the failed pilot for the series, which starred Naomi Watts, it’s clear that the network was concerned about essentially starting from scratch with a brand-new take on “Game of Thrones.” And even though this may not be the reinvention that fans might be hoping for, it would appear that “House of the Dragon” is a lot more by-the-book in its story. We’ll just have to wait and see if that’s a good thing or not.