With HBO inching ever closer to a future without Game of Thrones, the network is putting the pieces in motion to ensure that they won't be without the world of Westeros for long. Just last week, HBO gave a pilot order to a Game of Thrones prequel which will take place thousands of years prior to the main series and chronicle "the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And 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." KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE co-writer Jane Goldman will be taking the reins of the pilot.
It's exciting times, and George R.R. Martin recently took to his blog to comment on the developments, clarifying that "what we have here is a pilot order, not as yet a series order. Though of course we are all hoping that will follow." The author then provided a few more details about the upcoming pilot:
Yes, this is a prequel, not a sequel. None of the characters or actors from GAME OF THRONES will appear in the new show. All of the successor shows we’ve been developing have been prequels, as I have mentioned before. This one really puts the PRE in prequel, since it is set not ninety years before GAME OF THRONES (like Dunk & Egg), or a few hundred years, but rather ten thousand years (well, assuming the oral histories of the First Men are accurate, but there are maesters at the Citadel who insist it has only been half that long). We’re very early in the process, of course, with the pilot order just in, so we don’t have a director yet, or a cast, or a location, or even a title. (My vote would be THE LONG NIGHT, which says it all, but I’d be surprised if that’s where we end up. More likely HBO will want to work the phrase “game of thrones” in there somewhere. We’ll know sooner or later).
This project is just one of five potential Game of Thrones prequels which HBO has been developing, but George R.R. Martin now says that one of those has been shelved. With the Jane Goldman pilot moving forward, what will become of the other projects? Well, Martin doesn't believe that they're dead and that the three other Game of Thrones prequels, each set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, are still in the works. "Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come," Martin said. "We do have an entire world and tens of thousands of years of history to play with, after all. But this is television, so nothing is certain." And before you ask, none of this is keeping Martin from completing work on "Winds of Winter," which the author says remains his top priority.