Game of Thrones prequel series cancelled

[Alberon]

One of the prequel series to Game of Thrones has been binned by HBO. This one would have told of the Age of Heroes and the original Long Night.

The "Game of Thrones" prequel pilot starring Naomi Watts is not going to series at HBO, Variety has confirmed with sources.

The cast and crew of the pilot were recently informed that HBO had passed on the project. The potential series was set to take place thousands of years prior to the events of the original series.

HBO declined to comment.

In addition to Watts, the pilot starred Josh Whitehouse, Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sheila Atim, Ivanno Jeremiah, Georgie Henley, Alex Sharp, Toby Regbo, Miranda Richardson, Marquis Rodriquez, John Simm, Richard McCabe, John Heffernan, and Dixie Egerickx.

I'd like a chance to see the pilot anyway.

Another prequel set in the early years of the Targaryen rule of Westeros is still moving forward.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/game-of-thrones-prequel-pilot-hbo-1203387153/

Meanwhile the showrunners who, IMHO botched the last two seasons of Game of Thrones have dropped the Star Wars trilogy they were working on.

"Game of Thrones" creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will no longer write or produce a trilogy of "Star Wars" movies, Variety has confirmed.

The pair attributed the departure to their upcoming Netflix projects.

"We love Star Wars. When George Lucas built it, he built us too," they said in a statement. "Getting to talk about Star Wars with him and the current Star Wars team was the thrill of a lifetime, and we will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything. But there are only so many hours in the day, and we felt we could not do justice to both Star Wars and our Netflix projects. So we are regretfully stepping away."

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy remarked, "David Benioff and Dan Weiss are incredible storytellers. We hope to include them in the journey forward when they are able to step away from their busy schedule to focus on Star Wars."

I do wonder if it was entirely their decision or more fallout from the mixed reception the last season of GoT got.

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/game-of-thrones-creators-star-wars-trilogy-exit-1203386590/

[Camp Tramp]

Why not do a sequel rather than a prequel.

Move it forward a few hundred years, you could have a show set during the Renaissance, then another set at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the Westerosi Great War etc etc.

I don't get the impression that GRRM really cares about the property. Just don't let the previous showrunners anywhere near it.

[rasta-spouse]

Is this the one Jane Goldman was writing?

[Mobius]

Why not do a sequel rather than a prequel.

Agreed, but I suppose with prequels there's loads of writing they can pull from (World of Ice & Fire encyclopedia etc) Same as I bet this LOTR Amazon series will be set in the past, so they have Tolkien's notes and scribbles to use.

I am not keen on any of these prequel ideas, would be better off finding one of the GoT cast who survived and doing some sort of spinoff...

[FredNurke]

Agreed, but I suppose with prequels there's loads of writing they can pull from (World of Ice & Fire encyclopedia etc) Same as I bet this LOTR Amazon series will be set in the past, so they have Tolkien's notes and scribbles to use.

The LOTR series won't be able to use anything that isn't in the Hobbit or LOTR, as the rights to the other stuff are still held by the Tolkien estate, and they're not selling.

[purlieu]

The Appendices to LotR cover a hell of a lot of the history, which is what I believe the series will be drawn from.

And yeah, the proposed GoT prequels are all set in eras which have at least some outline in the seven books and World of...
I wouldn't trust someone to write something completely from scratch without any GRRM material at all.

[Jim Bob]

"Getting to talk about Star Wars with him and the current Star Wars team was the thrill of a lifetime, and we will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything. But there are only so many hours in the day, and we felt we could not do justice to both Star Wars and our Netflix projects. So we are regretfully stepping away."

Hahahaha.

Ha.

*wipes away tear*

Hehe.  Hoho.  Ohhh... hehe... haha... haaaaaaa  hahahahahahaha.

"Only so many hours in the day".

Ah ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa.

Lovely stuff.

I wish them a every success in their new career as stand up comedians.  They're off to a flying start.

[greenman]

The Appendices to LotR cover a hell of a lot of the history, which is what I believe the series will be drawn from.

And yeah, the proposed GoT prequels are all set in eras which have at least some outline in the seven books and World of...
I wouldn't trust someone to write something completely from scratch without any GRRM material at all.

Pretty much, it won't be able to directly use material from the Silmarillion but the end of Return of the King has an appendix covering basic events between that narrative and Lord of the Rings. Indeed they already did that in Jacksons films with the flashback at the start.

They do have the advantage that the basic setting doesn't really shift too much either where as this GOT prequel being set so much earlier would basically have to come up with an entirely new world. The description of Watt's character as a "socialite" especially always made me think their might be a problem there when your talking about a society that should surely be more akin to the celts or anglo saxons than some late medieval drama.

That kind of prequel seems like it would need a lot of development time to do well were as what were actually getting already has a lot of the detail written for it by Martin.

[Jim Bob]

I do wonder if it was entirely their decision or more fallout from the mixed reception the last season of GoT got.

There's absolutely nothing to wonder about.  All but officially, Kevin Feige has recently been appointed as the creative lead over at Lucasfilm, following Kathleen Kennedy's mismanagement.  The decisions made under Kennedy's reign are now being systematically wiped out.  Expect to hear the official cancellation of Rian Johnson's Star Wars trilogy after the release of Episode IX and all.

[purlieu]

It's quite sad that this prequel has been cancelled, in some respects, as its exploration of the white walkers and the history of the north does seem a lot more interesting than some of the others that have been bandied about, and very different to the series we've already had. If we get a Targaryen-era prequel, it'll probably be a lot closer to GoT itself.

[purlieu]

If we get a Targaryen-era prequel, it'll probably be a lot closer to GoT itself.

Ha, and that one has just been confirmed. Ah well.

[Alberon]

Since the White Walkers in the series are totally different to the ones in the books it's a shame the TV ones will never see their backstory investigated.

[NoSleep]

Since the White Walkers in the series are totally different to the ones in the books it's a shame the TV ones will never see their backstory investigated.

We've already seen their origin, though.

I would be more interested in seeing a pre-apocalypse Valyria.

[purlieu]

Yes, I'd love to see more of Essos, and apparently the now abandoned series was also set to explore the barely touched-upon Sothoryos.

I'd much rather any of this than another political power play in Westeros centred around King's Landing.

[Jake Thingray]

Just hope this means Miranda Richardson gets saved from having to appear in such rubbish.

[Mister Six]

I do wonder if it was entirely their decision or more fallout from the mixed reception the last season of GoT got.

I suspect the people in charge watched the last season and realised the B&W are largely shit, and that everything good and popular about GoT came from the books, not them.

[Famous Mortimer]

I suspect the people in charge watched the last season and realised the B&W are largely shit, and that everything good and popular about GoT came from the books, not them.

Even more impressive as GRRM hasn't written an entertaining word in over a decade.

[Custard]

It might be bollocks, but Midnight's Edge have done a video about Martin possibly falling out with Benioff and Wise

https://youtu.be/l6SKSqSGACI

[Kryton]

Eurgh. I recently finished Fire and Blood and realised I hate almost all of the Targaryens. Such entitled, smug arseholes the lot of them. So I'm not really looking forward to this even though, well it was inevitable what with the Targs being crucial to Westeros.

The cancelled white walker stuff is a shame as I'd love to have more of that (even if the show runners fucking ruined them in series 8).

I'd much rather just watch a spin-off involving Bronn and Tyrion going out drinking or maybe Arya sailing off to distant shores.

Also just noticed this glaring error on the Variety website.

The seventh and final season of "Game of Thrones" proved to be highly-divisive among fans, many of whom criticized the direction the show took in its final episodes.

[Mobius]

Yeah not really a fan of any of the prequel ideas. Hard to care about Targaryans, anyone really need to see more dragons? Not really bothered about The White Walkers either, since they were complete losers and got destroyed by a 10 year old. Unless they are gonna communicate and have a culture or something.

Best thing to do would be something in Essos, or somewhere entirely new like Sothyros. Would love to see Asshai.

[Kryton]

Yeah not really a fan of any of the prequel ideas. Hard to care about Targaryans, anyone really need to see more dragons? Not really bothered about The White Walkers either, since they were complete losers and got destroyed by a 10 year old. Unless they are gonna communicate and have a culture or something.

Best thing to do would be something in Essos, or somewhere entirely new like Sothyros. Would love to see Asshai.

Yeah the further away from Westeros you go the stranger things get. Asshai would be a great to visit.

There are no children in Asshai. All who dwell there wear masks or veils, and often walk alone or ride in palanquins of ebony and iron, hidden behind dark curtains and carried upon the backs of slaves. Only the shadowbinders of Asshai dare to travel upriver, and even they fear to tread before the doors of the Stygai, the corpse city

Yi Ti too. Or the Five forts. Or Leng. Or Lorath. All sound wonderfully bizarre and scary.

[purlieu]

Especially as one of the changes in the TV series was to reduce the Tyrion & Jorah on the boat section down from about two-thirds of A Dance With Dragons to like, a single episode. There's so much vivid imagery in just those chapters. GRRM really infused the descriptions of everywhere outside Westeros with the kind of mystery and strangeness that Europeans came back with when travelling hundreds of years ago. The idea that that kind of stuff is actually real in this world makes me eager to see at least a bit more of it. Or even go totally off-piste and see what version of America Arya discovers.

Monarchs, dragons and King's Landing is just about the most boring thing you could make another show about. So obviously they're doing it.

[Inspector Norse]

Would love to see Asshai.

I bet you would you dirty old bollocks, I bet you fucking would

[Phil_A]

Yeah the further away from Westeros you go the stranger things get. Asshai would be a great to visit.

Yi Ti too. Or the Five forts. Or Leng. Or Lorath. All sound wonderfully bizarre and scary.

That reads very much like an excerpt from one of Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories, which George R.R. is a big fan  of. Which reminds me, The Cudjel Saga would make a fun series adaptation if anyone outside of fantasy lit. circles cared about Vance.

[Dex Sawash]

Really excited to not see this too.

[Famous Mortimer]

Especially as one of the changes in the TV series was to reduce the Tyrion & Jorah on the boat section down from about two-thirds of A Dance With Dragons to like, a single episode. There's so much vivid imagery in just those chapters. GRRM really infused the descriptions of everywhere outside Westeros with the kind of mystery and strangeness that Europeans came back with when travelling hundreds of years ago. The idea that that kind of stuff is actually real in this world makes me eager to see at least a bit more of it. Or even go totally off-piste and see what version of America Arya discovers.

Monarchs, dragons and King's Landing is just about the most boring thing you could make another show about. So obviously they're doing it.

Shows the different things people get from books - I thought pretty much everything that happened to Tyrion outside Westeros was padding, and not very good padding either. If I'd read "where do whores go" one more time, I was going to find GRRM and stick the book up his arse.

I'd like to see a fantasy series where they bin off prophecies and all that. One of the upsetting things about ASOIAF, for me, was the realisation that it wasn't going to be about how anyone, even the bastard son of a remote nobleman, can become the most powerful person in the world; but it was actually about the revenge of the magic-powered dragon family that had been kicked out before the beginning of the books, and how you can only be powerful if there's a prophecy about you.

I'd love to see Arya's travels, or Jon and Tormund's sexy northern adventures. Maybe make it an "American Horror Story" style anthology show, where each mini-series follows a different strand of the story. Have Sam be a Cadfael style detective. 

[Inspector Norse]

 Bronn 'n Pod in The Trip to Dorne

[Gurke and Hare]

GRRM really infused the descriptions of everywhere outside Westeros with the kind of mystery and strangeness that Europeans came back with when travelling hundreds of years ago.

He's really good at describing places in general I think - I really want to visit Braavos and Volantis. As much criticism as AFFC got, I really enjoyed Brienne visits the Riverlands, I thought he brought the bleakness of it alive really well. Although clearly the very literal adaptation of it that the reddit asoiaf wankers wanted would have been terrible television.

Another vote here for the Arya sails the world spinoff.

[Kryton]

There's so much vivid imagery in just those chapters. GRRM really infused the descriptions of everywhere outside Westeros with the kind of mystery and strangeness that Europeans came back with when travelling hundreds of years ago. The idea that that kind of stuff is actually real in this world makes me eager to see at least a bit more of it. Or even go totally off-piste and see what version of America Arya discovers.

Monarchs, dragons and King's Landing is just about the most boring thing you could make another show about. So obviously they're doing it.

Westeros as a geographical point is basically Britain and Ireland connected top to bottom with the lower edges (Dorne) more akin to sub-tropical Spain and the top something like Greenland and Iceland. But GRRM's measurements have always been slightly off in regards to say the height of the wall or the number of men in armies and such. He admits it himself that he regrets making the wall so tall and fumbled his numbers somewhat in his stories (albeit keeping things consistent and mostly measured with his scales).

But yeah to step away from Westeros would be a good thing. You'd think Essos would be next as it's so richly detailed at least on the Western side (getting weirder the further East you go on the map), but alas the producers seem to be going for the safer option of like you say tits, dragons and monarchs. There's only so much feudalism I can take though. I'd much more prefer a golden age of exploration as a sequel.

That reads very much like an excerpt from one of Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories, which George R.R. is a big fan  of. Which reminds me, The Cudjel Saga would make a fun series adaptation if anyone outside of fantasy lit. circles cared about Vance.

I'm afraid I've not read it/any, but I'll keep an eye out, thanks for the suggestion. A quick google suggests Vance's work maybe talks of forgotten senses of civilisation and the loss of knowledge/power, which I guess can be applied to some of the more mysterious elements of GRMM's world. I think GRMM does it well in fable and legend, maybe only half of the horrors of the other continents are true and maybe half are Westerosi superstition and sea-folk tales passed on.
That said I do love GRRM's references to HP Lovecraft such as the oily black stone, House GreyJoy's house words and other references like K'dath etc and his way of keeping a wonderful veil over the numerous distant shores.

[Kryton]

He's really good at describing places in general I think - I really want to visit Braavos and Volantis. As much criticism as AFFC got, I really enjoyed Brienne visits the Riverlands, I thought he brought the bleakness of it alive really well. Although clearly the very literal adaptation of it that the reddit asoiaf wankers wanted would have been terrible television.

AFFC is a fucking great book besides one or two chapters.
Possibly GRRM's greatest (or maturest) work, I actually felt a bit annoyed going back to ADWD as it wandered back into the whole fantasy stuff after enjoying the deep political plots and fallout (of AFFC).

Brienne's travels are an often criticised part of AFFC namely due to the reader already knowing Sansa's fate/whereabouts (Imagine if they'd have spliced Sansa's chapters during and after Brienne's? That would have been interesting!). But I personally loved those chapters and I think GRMM's broken man speech and her encounters at the Whispers were something wonderful, if for no other reason than giving us a glimpse at the lower classes and well... the Whispers stuff was downright nerve-wracking and detailed and some nasty characters get some justice. Also Brienne's journey shows an interesting side to Randyll Tarly.

Plus we get Cersei plotting (and the rise of Qyburn) , the Dornish plot and also Victarion the best Greyjoy.