Naomi Watts ‘intimidated’ but ‘very excited’ to be part of Game of Thrones spinoff

Photo by Joel Ryan
Photo by Joel Ryan

If you think that a world-renowned, Academy Award-nominated actress wouldn’t get nervous about joining the small-screen world of a television series, well, you don’t know Naomi Watts. In her defense, however, joining the world of Westeros means having some very big shoes to fill.

The Australian actress is “very excited” to be the lead in the Game of Thrones spinoff (or prequel, if you’re picky) that started filming this week, according to an interview clip with the Associated Press that was tweeted out early this morning:

Despite her excitement, Watts also admits that being part of such a worldwide phenomenon is “very intimidating,” especially because the original series just ended and “the world was blowing up over it, everything was Game of Thrones-related.”

She hopes that “those fans will come along and find something new and interesting in this world,” but she also thinks the chances of that happening are high.

“I think they won’t be let down,” she says with a smile.

Make no mistake, we’re still a loooong way off from the spinoff — tentatively titled, or at least codenamed for filming purposes, Bloodmoon — appearing on our screens, but we’re following it closely and we’ll have every bit of casting, filming and production news we can scrounge up for you. Stay tuned for more!

52 Comments

  1. Jack Bauer 24,

    I wish JCB wasn’t part of it. 😛 I’m going to give him a shot though. Who knows, maybe his role will be perfect for him and I’ll like his performance.
    ——–
    I’m still curious about Watts’ character… “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret.”

  2. Clob: I’m still curious about Watts’ character… “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret.”

    She’s secretly in possession of the video from “The Ring”. Didn’t you know?

  3. If someone of her caliber is confident about the story they want to tell, then that is a good sign. That’s how I’m taking it anyway 🙂

  4. Clob:
    Jack Bauer 24,

    I wish JCB wasn’t part of it.I’m going to give him a shot though.Who knows, maybe his role will be perfect for him and I’ll like his performance.

    I liked his acting more as Kit Marlowe in the little-seen Shakespearean tv show Will than I did in Camelot. I’m optimistic here, too.

  5. Wolfish:
    I’m tentatively optimistic, in large part because Watts has never disappointed me.

    Me neither. I adore her. She was the best (and maybe only good) thing about the “King Kong” remake.

  6. Ten Bears: Me neither. I adore her. She was the best (and maybe only good) thing about the “King Kong” remake.

    Hey now, the “Top, Top of the World” song in the beginning is top notch!

  7. Ten Bears: Me neither. I adore her. She was the best (and maybe only good) thing about the “King Kong” remake.

    If you don’t mind me asking, what were your issues with the 2005 film? I remember it being pretty good if suffering from weird CGI. The fight scene with Kong vs those 3 tyrannosaurs is still one of the most underrated fight scenes I’ve ever seen.

    Anyway I agree, Watts is fantastic and it’s great news for the prequel series that they were able to nab her.

  8. BeardedOnion: If you don’t mind me asking, what were your issues with the 2005 film? I remember it being pretty good if suffering from weird CGI. The fight scene with Kong vs those 3 tyrannosaurs is still one of the most underrated fight scenes I’ve ever seen.

    I’ll throw my two cents in here as well.

    I thought King Kong wasn’t bad, but it was….awkward. The movie almost plays out like a romance between King Kong and Ann Darrow. The movie itself was way too long too, IMO.

  9. Chilli:
    Jack Bauer 24,

    Wish Bryan Cogman was a part of this too.

    Fully agree with this, it would have been very organic to have Cogman lead this. The lady who is leading now is very talented but likely to take things in a different direction I feel.

  10. Tbh I find it exciting that no one who worked on GoT will work on this show. I liked Cogman, Benioff, Weiss and the rest but having new take on GoT world is interesting.

  11. Can’t wait to see Naomi Watts on screen again. She was amazing in Twin Peaks season 3 can’t wait what she will bring to this franchise.

  12. Ten Bears,

    Yes, I enjoyed Kick-Ass as well. And Kingsman and X-men: First Class. I noticed she wrote the script for Rebecca, the upcoming remake of the Hitchcock drama that won best picture in the 40s which shows that she does more than balls to the wall violent movies.

  13. When we speak about other writers working on potential GoT spin off shows Carly Wray is the most interesting IMO. She worked on Mad Man, The Leftovers and Westworld.

  14. LatrineDiggerBrian,

    Yes!!! She was an English blueblood who lived quite the life. She also wrote the short story on which The Birds was based, but iirc she didn’t like that adaptation as much as she liked Rebecca. The novel won the National Book Award, incidentally.

  15. Jack Bauer 24:
    Wish David and Dan were a part of this.

    I’m glad they are not. Putting their failure to deliver fulfilling finale aside, I prefer a new producer in this project. A new concept, new ideas. No matter how good previous screenwriters were, it’s important to take someone who has no connections to former show aboard – there is more potential in a fresh mind that hopefully would give us something different.

    It’s enough that G. R. R. Martin is there to oversee the project. He’ll do a great job at controlling the consistency of the show. I have a feeling, that because Game of Thrones had overtaken the books, he lost the very last bit of sympathy to the show. And it seems like he’s super excited over the Bloodmoon series. There is no source material, so there is nothing to be overtaken. That’s a huge advantage, both for us and Martin himself, since we can always be surprised by the plot and twists and there’s a room for theory-crafting.

    So, new screenwriter, new cast and probably a new composer is a great start for the series. And I love it.

  16. Adam,

    If Martin is that heavily involved, it’s very unlikely the books will ever be finished. Are you ok with that? Besides, the way Martin has maintained consistency was by taking however long he needs to perfect, be it 2,3 or 8 years. He won’t have that luxury with the show, where he’ll be working under a deadline.

  17. Young Dragon,

    Well, those are actually fair points of yours.

    Anyway, him being involved doesn’t mean he writes any bit of a script. He simply supervises the project; probably accepts it and dumps anything that is wrong. Surprisingly, the episodes he wrote for Game of Thrones were great, so he does not only have skills in writing books, but also has knowledge of writing the scripts.

    So, he actually have plenty of time to finish the books – not sure if supervising the TV series project is that much time-consuming.
    When I wrote ‘consistency‘, I thought more about the world he created than the story alone, since there is barely any story from that time. He might actually be the right person to decide what fits the universe he created, more than anyone else.

    I’m quite confident to say that they will try to bring some “game-of-thronesque” climate to these series. And that requires a lot of planning in advance. Martin certainly is great on this matter.

    On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind that much if he was not involved at all in production. But if I had to choose of who’s to be involved, I would easily go with Martin. The crew of Game of Thrones is somewhat infected by it’s ideas and concepts. Martin is the father of this universe, so he doesn’t look at new project through the lens of Game of Thrones TV series, but rather as a Westeros-creator.

  18. shes 50! i mean she looks young, but i dont see her as main character for the rest of the show (if theres any upcoming seasons or whatever)

    shes probably this universe’s ned. the “we thought hes the main character” lmao and we will see her kids avenge her.

  19. She’s incredibly talented and I loved those films but they were largely witty and unconventional would that work in Westeros?

  20. raemontarg89:
    shes 50! i mean she looks young, but i dont see her as main character for the rest of the show (if theres any upcoming seasons or whatever) …

    Is that you, Meryn?

  21. Mass,

    You mean those stupids that turned a beloved book series the author himself called unfilmable into one of the most successful television shows in history and whose show created the very site you’re commenting on right now?

  22. Adam,

    I liked Pointy End, Blackwater, and The Lion and the Rose, but The Bear and the Maiden Fair was my absolute least favorite episode of the series.

    Maybe you’re right, but yet another distraction can only be a bad thing. The man has always struck me as a perfectionist, so who knows how long he’ll be looking over the scripts.

  23. Tell me you didn’t love this scene of Jon & Ygritte from “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” (“Oh! A spider! Save me Jon Snow”).

  24. Wolfish,

    Rebecca is a great novel as was Hitchcock’s 1940’s film based on it. No idea they are doing are remake of it. Wonder who is going to play Mrs Danvers… De Winter’s creepy housekeeper 🙂

  25. Young Dragon,

    One of my least favorite episodes of the series as well, which means it’s still pretty good 🙂

    I think if I had to pick my overall least favorite episode from GoT, it would be “Garden of Bones”, season 2 episode 4.

    I still kind of like the episode, but my wife and I refer to it as the “torture episode”. Sansa gets abused by Meryn fkg Trant, Joffrey forces Ros to beat Daisy, “The Tickler” tortures prisoners at Harrenhal, etc..

    Having said that, this episode has the scene with Tyrion and Lancel, as well as the parlay with Renly and Stannis. Both great scenes.

  26. I think the only reason she is intimidated are the abysmal reviews GOT recently had received, except from this site of course and what impact it may have on upcoming thrones related spinoffs. Maybe she is not so sure anymore to be in a high quality series and hoard some money for her pension.

  27. mau,

    I’d also like to see it done with new people as much as I enjoyed everyone’s work on Game of Thrones. One thing I would really love is if Ramin Djawadi could at least return to do the music.

  28. Lunaselene,

    No I didn’t see that, but that’s great casting, especially Diana Rigg for Mrs. Danvers. Kristen Scott Thomas is playing Mrs. Danvers in the update which is also good casting. The original is more slow simmering drama than anything, kind of a departure for Hitchcock. I bet they spiced up the new one a little and made it more of a thriller.

  29. Gfx,

    Yeah I really hope he comes back. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if they brought back all the producers, production designers, costume designers, vfx and fight coordinators. A lot of the directors too.

  30. Young Dragon,

    and yet stupidly ruined it when they run out of source materials. those who could go on for at least 10 seasons(and according to GRRM, even more), but decided to finish it in 8 seasons, the worst way possible. turning asoiaf into TV series had benefits for d&d more than anyone else. it brought them on the map. I can talk for days about the crime d&d committed with season 8(and 7), but you already know all of them. as lord varys says: Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty.

  31. Young Dragon:
    Mass,

    You mean those stupids that turned a beloved book series the author himself called unfilmable into one of the most successful television shows in history and whose show created the very site you’re commenting on right now?

    Mass:
    Young Dragon,

    and yet stupidly ruined it when they run out of source materials. those who could go on for at least 10 seasons(and according to GRRM, even more), but decided to finish it in 8 seasons, the worst way possible. turning asoiaf into TV series had benefits for d&d more than anyone else. it brought them on the map. I can talk for days about the crime d&d committed with season 8(and 7), but you already know all of them. as lord varys says: Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty.

    You’re both right.

  32. Mass,

    You left out how D&D were given the impossible task of finishing another man’s work. I don’t think you fully appreciate how difficult that is.

    They said that they were always planning to write a 70 episode story, and they gave 73 episodes, which is 3 episodes extra. And of course Martin wanted the show to go on longer. He wanted to buy more time so he could finish the story before the show did. He even said Feast/Dance could fill out 3 seasons, which is utterly ridiculous. That would have killed the entire series, so Martin isn’t the best source of information. Imo, 73 episodes was enough for D&D to tell their story.

    Yes, D&D became well known for their work on GOT. Martin became super rich and HBO earned millions more of subscribers. Everyone involved largely benefited. So what’s your point?

  33. It’s June 30, 2019. Still anxiously awaiting the first glimpse of Naomi Watts on set.

    God I love her.

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