HBO has officially greenlit its first pilot of a Game of Thrones spin-off! It’s news we have certainly been waiting for, but definitely has made my afternoon. Details are scarce, but through a press release via HBO, it looks like it will confirm what we’ve assumed for a long time: The spin-off will indeed be a prequel. While no title has been announced, HBO has released a few details, most importantly the setting and the showrunner!
Set thousands of years before the events of Thrones, the project 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.”
There is SO much to unpack here! The ‘Age of Heroes’ is often referred to as the Westerosi variant of Pax Romana – in other words, the period of great peace that followed the initial pact between The First Men and the Children of the Forest. It looks like we’ll get to dive a whole lot more into the origin of the White Walkers than season 6 of Game of Thrones did!
And then of course, there’s the possibility to explore the ‘Starks of legend.’ What ‘legend’ you ask? I’d very much assume chief among those included would be Bran the Builder, whose name recalls greatness, from his building of the Wall (yes, that Wall), as well as Winterfell – quite the résumé! He is said to have built these with the help of giants, so perhaps we’ll get to spend some quality time with Wun Wun’s great great (x100) grandparents! The possibilities are endless!
You’ll also notice the word ‘descent’ in the logline, so this begs the question as to whether the series will be told over the 4,000 years that the ‘Age of Heroes’ reportedly lasted, or if it will skew closer to Game of Thrones and tell a “smaller scale” story spanning 5-10 years? Granted, calling Game of Thrones “smaller scale” is preposterous, but who knows what level of epic storytelling this prequel could bring! Again, the possibilities are truly endless!
So who is writing all this? Per The Hollywood Reporter, Jane Goldman will be pairing with George R. R. Martin (yes, that George), although Goldman is billed as the writer of the teleplay for the pilot and she is credited as showrunner. I, for one, am absolutely thrilled at the chance for a woman to share her vision of Westeros and beyond, as it’s no secret that the writers and directors of the past several seasons of Game of Thrones have skewed rather male-heavy. And she has a ton of fantasy credits to her name, having co-written screenplays for Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, and one of my personal favorite movies of all time, Stardust. She’s even writing the screenplay for the upcoming live action version of The Little Mermaid. I think it’s safe to say that Game of Thrones spin-off, perhaps the first of many to come in the coming years, is in good hands!
What stories do you think this prequel will tell? One thing to note is that this is just a pilot order right now, not a series order – hopefully that will soon follow! Sound off your enthusiasm in the comments below!
Well that is something else… The real origins of Walkers? Well that’s interesting. But I hope this dosen’t mean NK and Walkers are just destroyers in final season and nothing else.
NK,
That’s kind of what I was thinking too. I hope they won’t purposely hold information back in season 8 so they can dangle a carrot in front of fans for the prequel. That would be incredibly cheap. I just think prequels tend to turn into a shameless money grab more than anything else. I’ll be optimistic about it though. Hopefully HBO will do it justice.
Omg this sounds amazing!!!!!
This is EW’s take on the news: http://ew.com/tv/2018/06/08/game-thrones-prequel-jane-goldman/
I think it’s much more interesting and relevant news now that things are ending regarding filming that Alfie Allen was spotted in Belfast yesterday.
Mr Derp,
Well they do say “it’s not the story we think it is”
So likely season 8 will reveal stuff. But the prequel will show the truth
At first glance, that sounds really cool. At second glance, it sounds a lot like Game of Thrones. In a history and world of possibilities, do we want another show that focuses on the Wall and the White Walkers and the Starks?
Granted, it’s a brief, vague logline. Of course I’ll have to wait and see. The most interesting part of it to me is “the mysteries of the East.” That’s exciting. And I’m really keen to see design/aesthetic differences, given how far back in time we’re going. Landscape, costumes, weapons; lots of cool potential.
Dee Stark,
I’ll wait and see what they end up doing with it. I wish I had your optimism about the prequels Dee. Got any to spare for a cynic like me?
Mr Derp,
I have lots and I love sharing 🙂 come on guys let’s be excited!
Mr Derp,
Exactly what jumped to mind for me as well. I think season 8 definitely needs to shed some light on the NK and WW beyond just being agents of death. Although I would say most would agree that there won’t be time to dive too deep into their backstory, so I’m okay that season 8 offers up some answers and insight into the WW while leaving the deeper exploration for the prequel series.
Exciting news nonetheless!
So the WW will get more backstory in S8 after all?
I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what it means…we’re not going to learn much in Season 8 about the White Walkers. I really hope they’re not going to pull this crap.
Mr Derp,
The scripts for season 8 would’ve been written farbefore anything in this prequel was decided
Plus Hbo wouldn’t do that to Their biggest show of all time
NK,
I got the opposite reaction. If HBO is doing another show with the WW than GRRM for sure knows a lot about them and he for sure told D&D that in 2013.
Thanks, this is my take:
https://watchersonthewall.com/details-first-game-thrones-spinoff-emerge/
It would nice to see them go not too far back in to the past, unless they plan on giving us many more great years of the show. We will be getting to know all new characters/actors then. I am excited to see that it will continue though, but I will miss all of the amazing people we have come to love in this show.
HelloThere,
Oh, great. We have a new conspiracy theory and new D&D bashing fast for the months to come. Sigh.
mau,
Maybe? Bran saw the origin of NK so can’t really say what this new series is going to tell. Maybe how NK break the chain and started the Long Night. And maybe Martin only told what Walkers does in the end. Not what they “are.” Hope I’m wrong and there is more info about Walkers and why attack now. What is the motive.
But is season 8 Long Night 2.0 and only that? Makes me wonder what these all means and one year to go to get answers… Or not and more years to wait for real answers.
I was hoping the prequel would involve Old Valyria or the Targaryens. So, for me this is a bit of a disappointment:(
NK,
They won’t ruin GoT so this new show could work. Doesn’t make any sense. That won’t happen.
I don’t like to speculate with so few details, but i don’t think they will hold information about the Others. I believe we will get what is necessary to know to have a satisfying conclusion!
I am very happy with the news and especially with the topic that has been chosen.
mau,
Well that is true. If they cop out final season it won’t live to be remembered.
So it seem the shooting of the entire season will take place next year and Season 1 will air in 2020.
I don’t think I’ll get overly interested until Game of Thrones is over, to be honest. I like the sound of it, but I can’t invest myself in too much speculation until Season 8 is up. 👍
I’m leaning to GoT: Age of Heroes being an anthology series, each season covering a unique story, especially after reading HBO tagline.
I am super excited about this now!! Really looking forward to what they do with the story.
mau,
I believe 2020 would be too early. they would need to put a team together (cast and crew) and the selection process could take a while. Plus they need to write & shoot the pilot; then if its greenlit, season one.
Forrest,
I’m most interested in the “mysteries of the east” as well. I feel that we didn’t see much of eastern lore, only heard about it through characters in GoT. Hopefully we see the origin of dragons, perhaps a little bit of the Shadowlands of Asshai and/or Yi Ti. It would be great to see a bit of Old Valyria as well.
I am So happy about the news – that’s exactly what I was hoping for as a prequel theme and there’s so much story to tell, so many characters to meet and mythology to explore… I’m super excited too! 🤩🤩🤩
Cool news. Look, I’ve always said that I’m not massively excited about any spin-off for a multitude of reasons, but of course I will watch it and hope it is awesome. Now that he has helped with the initial concept, I hope that George will keep his beak out of things, and let Jane create the best pilot (and thereafter show) as possible. It sure won’t be easy, but with five different ideas initially presented, they obviously have a fantastic concept for a spin-off. You can bet Jane (like D&D before her) will be 100% focused on her one job of creating an incredible show. Neither Jane nor George could do with the distraction of having him around too much, so I’m glad she is the sole showrunner.
Good Luck Jane (and all the other members of the creative team). I pray that Nina Gold is involved in the casting, because that will be absolutely crucial to this project succeeding, perhaps more so than the script. GoT would not be the same without her.
Works for me! If they don’t have dragons, maybe the FX budget can be spent on other things. Although, if the cited ‘mysteries of the East’ imply Asshai, we might see the genesis of the very first dragons, before they came to Valyria.
I’m already fantasizing about them hiring Peter Dinklage for eight more years to portray Tyrion’s ancestor, Lann the Clever. But he’s probably ready to move on to very different roles by now.
NK,
The White Walkers’ motivations won’t make or break the final season for me. I’d be perfectly fine if they were simply forces of nature intending to wipe out humanity, because that’s what they were created to do. For complex villains, we have Cersei.
I’ve liked a lot of Goldman’s past film work (The Golden Circle, her most recent, was disappointing, but that’s one against a generally enjoyable filmography, and it’s often hard to know how much of what’s onscreen in a film is up to the writer anyway, since film isn’t a writer-driven medium, unlike television), but I’m kind of iffy on the premise, which, at a glance, strikes me as the show rerunning the White Walkers conflict that we’ve already seen on GOT. Granted that it’s difficult to avoid some level of repetition when GOT featured such a smorgasbord of different plotlines, but the epic battle for survival between humans and White Walkers strikes me as too specific a well to go back to.
Can’t say how pleased I am by the prospect of a female showrunner. At least some of D & D’s mistakes (sexposition scenes, being-raped-as-character-development, medieval women with Brazilian waxes etc.) seem less likely to be repeated.
It does sound like this one is focusing on the period that involved my first choice for a new series so I’m fairly pleased so far (Dance of Dragons was next or equal for me). I do want it contain the elements of high fantasy in what they do so magics, warging, dragons, giants, etc. It will be hard to duplicate the success of GoT but I’m optimistic.
Assuming WotW will continue on and carry over to a new series when it’s greenlit, I’ll be here to be a part of it. 🙂
onedon,
GRRM said on his blog couple of weeks ago that HBO wants this show in 2020.
I think for them this is just Season 9 of Game of Thrones. They will mostly use team and infrastructure that GoT already created.
Maybe the origin of the first White Walker is a Stark and related to Bran the Builder?
onedon,
I don’t think 2020 is too soon for just one pilot episode.
I’m very excited about this! As a Stark fan I think it’d be great to delve into the Genesis of that House and learn more about the North in general. This premise seems to be covering the gambit and I’m very pleased about the prospect of George working so closely with a female show runner.
I’m hoping this ends up being GOT’s heir apparent.
Congratulations and good luck to Ms. Goldman and those involved with the spin-off.
But. . .
Mr Derp,
Joey,
Hold on to your cynicism, just in case.
All that magnificent lore and world-building GRRM created for the taking, and we’re back to White Walkers and morose Starks? Eh, I’ll pass.
Stark are Skywalkers of this story.
I’m very happy with this news. I loved old Nan’s stories – I want to hear more!
That! 😎😎😎
Yes they are! They are truly the heart of the story! It’s not a coincidence that so many of them have been/are POV characters in the series from the very beginning.
Dark Sister,
Totally agree. Yi Ti would be quite fun to see on screen. As well as Old Valyria.
I think this suggests a possibility that what they have done with the White Walkers in the show is largely their own creation. I think it’s important to remember there’s no Night King in the books and Weiss has called them “ice demons” which is a far cry from how GRRM has described them. So the way this is worded is quite interesting. However, if it is the same universe, than they cannot have two different versions of the White Walkers because that doesn’t make any sense. So I don’t know what to think in all honesty.
Totally agree with both you and mau:)
I double direwolf dare you not to watch.
I am so happy! I love the Starks!
Do we think this will be the only spin off from the 5 they teased that will actually make it to television?
Yay! Congrats to Jane Goldman.
If the pilot is indeed picked up for a series, could it be an anthology? The logline seems to indicate a pretty broad timeline and with many different locations. Curious to see who will direct the pilot.
Maybe! But I doubt it. That’s kind of what I was suggesting when I talked about how it extends itself to many thousands of years of history by saying that it will cover the ‘descent.’ While it is certainly possible that they could have each season cover different years, I would hedge my bets on them hewing closer to the GOT formula and covering a set group of characters over the years. They can always make another series set hundreds or thousands of years apart from wherever they settle on for this spinoff.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, 😱😱😱😱😱😱😁😁😁😁😁😁👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Nerdgasm alert!!!! I think Goldman is an excellent choice to write for and run this potential show! You had me at “X-Men: First Class” and “X-Men: Days Of Future Past” !!!! Of course being pared with George should be good (but doesn’t he have to finish those last two pesky novels of a certain cycle?!🤔)!
All in all this is good news, and something I can definitely get behind and watch! Best they do this right rather than fast…😁👍
Well, if the spinoff was about Yi Ti, the Doom of Valyria or Dunk and Egg, I would watch, no dare required. But it’s not, so I respectfully decline. I’ve had a great journey with Game of Thrones and I thank GRRM, D&D, HBO and everyone involved for that.
While I’m sure Dunk and Egg would make for an exciting episode or two, I can see why they aren’t putting their eggs (oops) in that basket. The story proposed (or at least the limited details we know thus far) opens the series up to much more world building than “The Adventures of Dunk and Egg” would.
orange,
I think it’s true that the Children are the creators of the White Walkers for the reasons the show gave. The Night King is a made up name, but I assume they have some sort of leader in the books. I think the spin-off will simply build on the lore that the show has presented and that we will see the events leading to the White Walkers’ creation
Yes, at least for many years, I would think so.
Jane Goldman. Kick-Ass. ✅
Luka Nieto,
This news also means WoW will continue on…. doesn’t it? 🙏
I think they can do exactly that, and it’s pretty strongly suggested in the strapline.
It’d be pretty simple to paint the WWs a certain way in the current show and then delve more deeply into what motivated and shaped them in a subsequent story. It’s really no different to what we were led to believe about Roberts rebellion – there is always more than one side to any story.
If this has to do with the Age of Heroes, I hope we see all of them: Bran the Builder, Artys Arryn, the Grey King, Lann the Clever, Garth Greenhand and Durran Godsgrief.
One of the things that made GoT stand out was how “grounded” it was for a fantasy series. It dealt with human nature just as much as dragons and White Walkers. It was seen as an antidote to LOTR in many ways. Very few true heroes. Shades of grey. Scheming and politics. Often relevant to the current state of the world. The supernatural was doled out slowly and carefully. GRRM deserves the credit for this but D&D followed his template.
Now, for this spinoff, I hope they throw out that rulebook and make this series into something much more recognizable as “fantasy”. I want mysticism. I want a deeply supernatural Westeros (and Essos) brimming with magic. And, speaking personally, I want true horror and evil. I think this has the potential to be a much scarier show if they choose to go in that direction. Can’t wait to see where they take it.
Please. It doesn’t “beg the question,” it “raises the question.”
Remember the vast majority of game viewers are college educated women, so at least one spinoff must be embraced by that demographic to reach the levels of it’s predecessor.
I’m in! I was always going to be in, but this project sounds absolutely fantastic, and a worthy successor/prequel/companion piece to our brilliant, beloved Game of Thrones.
I particularly love the suggestions about the “Starks of legend” and the “descent from the golden Age of Heroes into the world’s darkest hour”. I’ll be eagerly awaiting more details and anticipating its arrival. Congrats to Jane Goldman!
I am so beyond excited about this news~! (tho a bit ticked off that Martin was spending tome on this and not ont the next book!)
evenwind,
Hee I like ‘lets just call it that (game of thrones ages of heros) till someone tells us to stop”
Firannion,
Seriously in this day and age, you would have difficulties with it? Yikes.
“Age of Heroes” could be a good title for this show.
Holly LeRoy,
? Have I been using that expression wrong all these years? What is the difference pls?
ash,
I think you may have misread what she meant 🙂 I took it more like “there aren’t enough words to describe how pleased I am”.
Mr Derp,
Ok I did misread it – saw Can’t which gave it a negative spin, you are right sorry!
Christmas has come early.
That’s all I’ll say for now, but I’m sure I’ll be back later. There’s literally so much book cannon/ timeline issues they can explore. And about the East bit… damn they better give us some Azor Ahai explanations. My god I’m excited if the show gets greenlighted.
Ten Bears,
Also… fucking AWESOME movie Ten Bears. I’m convinced they are modeling the Deadpool movies after Kick-Ass.
This news has me STOKED. Excited for the show to be run by a woman, (hers were the best xmen movies), excited to see a much earlier version of westeros, and excited for some FUCKING GIANT SPIDERS BIG AS HOUNDS
It tracks with what we’ve heard. The new series would hope to hold onto casual fans with familiar houses and such. Also guessing there may be some Old Valyria in the mix. But, like you, seeing that bit about the East got me pumped. Hopefully we go beyond Essos. i want to see more of the Known World: Yi Ti, Sothoyros, Asshai.
Wow! This makes me extremely excited now. Looking forward to hearing more about this in the future.
This is amazing news. And with so much mystery shrouding the topic, it’s bound to have plenty of content to explore for seasons to come. I’m just glad we get more adventures from the ASOIAF universe!!
And yes for some girl power. D&D will be heavily missed though. But I’m happy for some new blood to rejuvenate the entire series and give it a new start.
Perhaps I should have worded that differently. I meant it in the sense of, ‘I’m so pleased about having a female showrunner this time that I can scarcely find words to express myself.’
Well, I’m happy Jane Goldman’s vision won out, she was the strongest candidate of all that were hired to write pilots imo and I’ve really enjoyed her work on the Matthew Vaughn movies. Her teaming up with George to write is great news.
Have to admit though, I’m still very worried about the spin off. Times have really changed since S1 back in 2011 up till now. The show, in early seasons, had an unbelievable voice, it was typical HBO pushing boundaries through a dark tinted lens, in a world where no one was safe and our favorite heroes died often. One that was chock full of grey and dark characters and unflinching.
And then the show exploded and all the band wagoners came. People well into adulthood who still enjoyed animated movies now arrived to the dark and violent world of ASOIAF. They complained about every little thing, whining about the violence and nudity, crying whenever their favorite characters were offed, and accusing the creators of racism and misogyny when there was none. Slowly David and Dan backed down and the show morphed into a Disney / Marvel venture, featuring every usual boring story trope that we see in every summer movie. Empty spectacle took precedence over story. One by one, character storylines, built up so masterfully over five seasons, were flushed down the toilet so all our heroes could be consolidated into an Avengers like super-team.
I don’t know if the show could ever be written like it was in the first few seasons. I hope I’m proven wrong. I hope the fanbase has grown and matured and is now ready to be challenged instead of spoon-fed. We’ll have to see I guess, but I’m not holding my breath. The world has changed since the inception of GoT back in 2011, and I think its best days are behind us :`(.
I am very very excited about this news!! I would love to know the whole history, from the Age of Heroes to the origins of the white walkers and also the Great empire of the Dawn and the Bloodstone emperors, which would mean inclusion of dragons as well. I never expected to know the full history of this period since GRRM is never going to finish the books anyway, so this is good news.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
Just to add to this, if Jane, George, HBO or any of the producers are reading this, I just ask, please don’t compromise your vision out of fear of arm chair whiners. Don’t forget what made the show so special in the early years that made everyone come flocking to it. The unique story telling that has always made HBO so special and completely revolutionized television with shows like Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire, Sex and the City, Carnivale, Entourage, Boardwalk Empire, Band of Brothers, Deadwood, Bill Maher, and on and on and on. Don’t be afraid to push boundaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll probably watch because I love GoT’s and the world Martin has created. But I’m a little disappointed in the premise that they chose. I was hoping for the Rhoynar/Valyrian war that ended with Nymeria fleeing with her 1000 ships to settle in Dorne.
You have Dragons/Fire vs Water Magic. You have good & evil characters on both sides of the war. Political intrigue. You could merge timelines & have the Targs getting the vision of the Doom & fleeing for Dragonstone. Imagine growing with the next young “Arya” in Nymeria over the course of the series? Seeing her grow from a child to a young woman and leader who saved the Rhoynar from destruction.
Imagine getting to see the Freehold of Valyria and all the different dragons. You could even mix in Asshai. Even give us the Doom. This premise seems to offer all of the political intrigue and scheming and military battles that we’ve grown to love in GoT’s. I just don’t get the same excitement for The Age of Heroes & more White Walkers. I’ll probably still watch but I think there were better premise choices out there.
I hope the big twist of the pilot is that these Starks are total dicks.
It’d be fun to see them as the bad guys, or even get a plot with Bael the Bard subverting the male line, or a story about Mormont women marrying in and improving the family.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
Just because you believe something has been Disneyfied doesn’t make it so. You always expressed your opinion with such conviction that you probably think that renders it true. It does not. And you mentioning the whiners complaining about everything makes me think you’ve never read your own posts. You are one of the chief complainers. Almost to the level of those insufferable geeks complaining about the new Star War films ad nauseam. I get being disappointed by a show/movie/book that you once loved. Who hasn’t experienced that? The solution is quite simple: stop consuming the product if it no longer pleases you.
Just remember Agents of Shield spun off into Inhumans.
Which just shows how badly wrong some of these projects can go!
Not quite. SHIELD introduced the concept of Inhumans to the MCU first, technically, but didn’t get to use any of the major comics characters because they were already slated to get their own movie. That didn’t happen and we got Marvel’s Excuse to Film in Hawaii for a Bit. Which I can’t judge having not seen.
But assuming it’s as bad as everyone says, it didn’t fail because someone stretched the idea of SHIELD (or even the MCU in general) too far; Inhumans failed because there’s a properties rift between MCU films and shows and it got stuck as the leftovers of both without the ability to hook into either.
It will be incredibly, fundamentally different when HBO gets to do whatever they want with a prequel. They might still faceplant the landing, but it won’t be some weird I-don’t-want-custody battle.
\
My first thought was “Another reason not to finish WoW” – though I’ll be happy to be proven wrong. I don’t want to be unnecessarily jaded though and will reserve judgement until the prequel sees light of day.
Something went wrong when I posted my comment above – I tried to quote all of Ash’s post but it didn’t work and then I got a message that I had double posted – so I left the site and when I came back it seemed the whole quote had not “taken”.
Lol. True,
Ugh. Of course they’d go for the period that allows for the most simplistic action-packed story and cheap fantasy wallops.
Happy to finally have some news about the prequel. Something to look forward to as I come to terms with the end of GOT!
I’m not surprised they are going for this as the theme. I would have loved something about the Valyrians, but I felt early on that they would never do something that messed around with the formula too much. Let alone the cost of CGI if they had more dragons than they do now! I figured it would be based in Westeros so casual fans have the familiarity of places, families and even enemies. Sadly, most fans aren’t aware of the rich history George has woven for his ASOIAF. I doubt that a show based in Essos or Valyria, would have been popular for most viewers.
Perhaps we might see the precursors to the Valyrian stronghold when it mentions the East. Maybe we will see the beginnings of dragon riders there? Maybe they have silver hair and purple eyes? Or maybe we’ll learn that the dragons are linked to the white walkers somehow.
I’m really excited about the possibilities raised. Y this and excited to see what a female show runner will do with the world from ASOIAF.
10000 years is a long time. How are they going to keep it visually similar to GOT (to lure over the viewers) while still making it realistic enough to show the passage of time. 10000 years before our own feudal medieval period was obviously entirely different in every respect. I wonder how they will deal with it on this show.
My first thought was: “No dragons!” Then I put some actual thinking into it and I’m looking forward for the new show. I suppose there will be magic and mystery and characters to like and fear for their fate.
I know, the ending of GOT will have the flavour of a separation: you cry your eyes out and wonder how on earth you will live after that. Then you allow yourself to be glad for other things as well and unexpectedly, you discover that you can be happy and excited again.
I do have hope for the new show.
Che,
There’s really no legitimate way to derail this thread with Arya fanboying, is there? 🙁
That’s the spirit! Start bashing the spinoff before a single episode has ever been filmed!
LatrineDiggerBrian,
Hey LDB! 🖐 Good to see you back!
Let’s give the spinoff a chance. After all, Jane Goldman wrote (?) Kick-Ass, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed. It even had an ASNAWP™-type heroine.
™ talvikorppi 2018
Aegon the Icedragon,
“Imagine growing with the next young “Arya” in Nymeria over the course of the series? Seeing her grow from a child to a young woman and leader who saved the Rhoynar from destruction.”
____________
(*In voice of Lord Manderly*) “But I was wrong! The thread got derailed to Arya after all!”
Well sometimes one can be agreeably surprised. When I first watched GoT I didn’t expect to like it but someone had recommended it and I thought, well no harm to give it a try, I could easily stop watching so I binge-watched the first two seasons and here I am some years later waiting for the final season. When I was a kid (quite a young kid, about 8 or so) my mother was fed up of me just getting books by Enid Blyton out of the library. Anyway Mum decided she would do me a “favour” and get some library books out on loan for me and one was Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliffe. It was obviously set in prehistoric times and my first reaction was of horror but when I read the book I did like it and went on to read more of RS’s work. I think GRRM has said she was one of the authors he read as a child.
Just for my own interest I did a bit of sleuthing on the internet to see if there was anything about writers (other than the ones I already knew of) who had been disappointed in dramatic adaptations of their work. I’ve mentioned a few on other threads but apparently Arthur Ransome didn’t like the 1963 dramatisation of Swallows and Amazons https://www.independent.co.uk › Culture › TV & Radio › News
I did have a chuckle over the changing of the name of a female character from “Titty” to “Kitty” though. It also seems that Winston Graham was not overly pleased with the 1970s Poldark TV adaptation. https://www.express.co.uk › Entertainment › Films
To the best of my knowledge no matter what he may or may not think privately GRRM has not publicly “dissed” GoT.
Broken Wolf,
“Garth Greenhand”: That name sounds familiar. You sure he’s not a weed dealer in New Jersey?
Yay! King Stannis! I knew you were alive! 🤴🏻
#Fewer
#What
#Nothing
Sounds really great! I´ve been hoping that it would be a piece of history that hasn´t been covered much in any of the existing material. This is something fresh and new! And it gives Jane Goldman a good amount of freedom.
Great to see a female writer/showrunner get the opportunity to tackle a big franchise.
I’m now curious about the pitch Bryan Cogman made and whether the other prequel ideas have a chance of being produced if this turns out to be a success.
The setting doesn’t matter. What matters are the characters. We don’t care care abouy “Starks” or “dragons” or “white walkers”. We care about JON ANd Arya and Dany and Tyrion And Sansa and Jaime and Cersei (etc).
I hope grrm and Jane come up with some really compelling people that we like to watch do amazing things.
That is all.
That surprised me! I was expecting Blackfyre rebellion or something Targareyn related…But this direction seems equally intriguing and fascinating
While I’m also really looking forward to a female showrunner’s take, these are honestly the least of D&D’s “mistakes”, in my opinion.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with “sexposition”, people are just excessively prudish about sex and nudity and only want it when it’s deemed “necessary”. Funny, no one complains about “foodexposition” (i.e. characters monologuing while drinking and eating, which personally bothers me a lot more as I’m not of fan of seeing/hearing people talk with their mouth full). No one says it’s “unnecessary eating”. No one says “we didn’t need to see Tormund eating like a pig!”. People just accept that the writers set a conversation during a meal.
I don’t mind seeing characters naked, so I don’t see why it’s a problem.
As for the rape thing, while I personally hated things like Jaime raping Cersei in Season 4, and definitely have issues with D&D’s writing of Sansa’s story in Season 5, I don’t see how one can argue that rape should never be or can never be a part of a character’s development.
It is in real life. Rape, like all abuse, is extremely traumatic and has a profound impact on who people are and how they live their lives (most of the time, anyway). It definitely changes who you are as a person, and contributes to shaping who you become (just like all traumatic experiences). If seeing your father beheaded can be character development, I don’t see why rape can’t be.
Horrific experiences contributing to character development is featured in virtually all drama, and has certainly happened to many characters on GoT (Theon, Sansa, Catelyn, Cersei, Jon, the list goes on and on).
Rape can and should be dealt with in a medieval drama that attempts to be realistic with how it portrays war and feudal society. It just needs to be written in an intelligent and sensitive way, and that is where D&D failed.
As for the waxing thing, I honestly don’t get why anyone is bothered by this. Lots of the men also don’t have chest or ass hair, yet no one complains about that. Grooming is a cultural thing, and there were ancient cultures where women did tend to their pubic hair, or remove it entirely. I don’t see why Westeros can’t be one of those cultures.
Also, what do you expect them to do ? Ask their female actors to grow their pubic hair ? Or should they just use fake looking merkins (which they actually have, on occasion) ? What about armpit hair ?
And maybe some the female actors simply didn’t want to wear a merkin, and didn’t want to grow up their hair.
Honestly this is such a trivial thing, it really doesn’t matter. This is true nitpicking in my view.
😂
I have faith in you Ten Bears! I’m sure there’s plenty of ways.
Sunfyre,
I really agree. I hope it is still “grounded” from a character and writing perspective, in terms of the characters having depth and there being a certain emotional realism. I also hope most of the characters remain fairly grey.
But aside from that, it should definitely be very high fantasy, and should play on the horror of the White Walkers. While most of what GoT has done with the WW has been excellent, nothing has surpassed how terrified I was in the opening scene of the show.
The way they were portrayed (and not portrayed) in the first season was truly haunting to me. Hardhome was very scary as well, but still, the Season 1 appearance remains the most eerie to me.
If they really lean into that, and do the Long Night justice, it will be magnificent.
mau,
But will they put GoT somewhere in there for brand recognition ? Like Game of Thrones : Age of Heroes ?
Doesn’t really sound great, but I just worry that some people may not know it has anything to do with GoT if they don’t keep the iconic Game of Thrones name somewhere in there.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
I wouldn’t be so pessimistic. George is the reason why the first season was the way it was. It was an extremely faithful adaptation of the book. And he will be involved in this new show, at least at first, so I’m sure his style will be present, more than it was in later GoT seasons.
And Jane Goldman isn’t D&D. She’s a much more successful and experienced writer than either of them were when they started GoT.
And HBO is still pushing boundaries (The Leftovers, Westworld, Girls, …). I wouldn’t worry too much.
Dame of Mercia,
He has always supported it in fact.
Che,
Someone else already did. 👸🏻 See my comment at 7:54 am
🚂
That was one awesome movie! Arya=Hit-Girl, Hit-Girl=Arya. Here is hoping that in the end Arya becomes Westeros’ Hit-Girl slaying all the criminals.
David is confusing the Dawn Age with the Age of Heroes.
Sounds excellent. I wasn’t too thrilled that the spinoff was going to be a prequel so I was really hoping it would be a distant enough prequel to avoid the (IMO) pitfalls of the approach. It sounds like we’re getting the Star Wars KOTOR of ASOIAF. I’m so in.
I agree, but I think this is going to be one of the hardest things for any prequel/spin-off to live up to. There are precious few shows out there (or any at all?) for whose fans care so deeply about its characters. The biggest reason for this is that George is the master of making you empathize with characters, and this has translated onto screen very effectively by D&D!
I watched a video a while back on what writers can learn from GoT, and it talked about how so many of the characters in the story are placed in disadvantageous positions in which they have to struggle and/or have some kind of disability they have to overcome in order to build this empathy. And the way these are woven into the narrative is expertly done.
In any case, I’m not going to expect that this new series will be able to pull of the kind of lightning-in-a-bottle cast of characters that GoT has. I will judge it on its own merits and go in with an open mind. 🙂
Firannion,
de nada 🙂
Dame of Mercia,
Yeah I wondered about that, had to go back to the original post to remember what I said! Hee I just figured it was easier to type one word than the whole quote. Yeah,thats kind weird tho.
Danny,
OK? Same goes to you though, just because you believe it isn’t Disneyfied, doesn’t make that true either. You probably think your own opinions render true also, what’s your point?
No I’m not going to stop consuming it. I loved the first 5 seasons, haven’t like the last 2. There’s one season left with 6 episodes, why would I stop watching now? And I’m going to check out the spin-off, but if it’s more stuff that’s targeted at modern, soft audiences who cry like infants whenever the show gets dark, then I’ll definitely not commit years to watching it.
Ten Bears,
Thank you. I am going to give it a chance.
NinaD,
Oh, for sure. It’s hardly surprising that they’re going in this direction. Most sequels/prequels lately try to get away with remaking the original while cautiously introducing new elements (or sometimes not). Hopefully the details they’ve revealed are really only there to hook in the casual fans, and over time the showrunners will put more faith in breaking new ground and exploring truly new lands/characters/elements.
Enharmony1625,
Apparently youve not discovered the black holes of fansites for Harry Potter, Star Trek, Star Wars, can easily match if not top the level of fandom with ours! ocial media has made it easy for these sites to start and to grow (thank goodness for this site!) I do agree with you tho – its the the shows that make the characters come to life, characters you care for or about. I look for that in tv and film that I watch, and Im hoping this prequel will do the same (and as someone already mentioned, the continuation of WOTW!!!!
Nick20,
For starters, I think Dave and Dan are amazing writers, though I’ve been disappointed with the last two seasons, I don’t take for granted the work they did on the first five and a half seasons. The books don’t adapt themselves (or even close) and they made thousands of brilliant decisions. I don’t think they could’ve found anyone better to adapt the material and attribute the success of the show just as much to George as I do to D & D (and HBO).
The direction the show as gone after the books has been disappointing. I don’t know what the reason for that is. Maybe pressure from whining fans, maybe their minds started to wonder and they started to focus on other things (Confederate), maybe they just weren’t as strong on plotting as they were on other things or didn’t have enough time. Probably a little of everything.
HBO has been meh lately. I don’t agree on Westworld, it’s a cool concept, the pilot and first three episodes were great, but after that it slowly went downhill so I stopped watching. Haven’t seen Leftovers or Girls.
We’ll see how it goes, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
My knowledge of prehistory is shaky so I was curious just what was happening 10,000 years ago when this show takes place. This list is from Wikipedia and so may not be totally accurate. But I found it interesting that is was the start of agriculture and making of beer!
And Great Britain was still connected to the European continental mainland by a land bridge…as were Alaska and Russia connected by the Beringia land bridge.
Wonder if either of those were GRRMs inspiration for the ancient Westeros and Essos land bridge…?
I didn’t even imagine they’d give us something like this so I didn’t give it much thought. The fact we’re going that far back is very exciting… and scary.
Well I was strictly thinking of TV shows, so I didn’t consider Harry Potter or Star Wars. But yes, obviously those. 🙂
In comparison to other great shows (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Lost, The Leftovers, Fargo, The Expanse, Westworld, House of Cards, etc.), I don’t quite get the sense that the characters are as deeply empathized with as in GoT. Or maybe I’m just getting a skewed sense.. 🙂 And it’s not to say that those other shows don’t have great characters (because they do), it’s just that with GoT I have rarely witnessed fans being so “protective” (for the lack of a better term) of their favourite character(s). Although I would say Lost might be the exception above, as fans became very invested and cared deeply for some of it’s characters. Still.. ASoIaF/GoT is a rare beast as far as this is concerned.
Enharmony1625,
Oh yeah, mixed up my movies with tv. The other fan site I was on was for the show Castle (canceled a few years ago. ……Great show, tho they jumped the shark in season 5, but I stopped going on the sites because those people were just crazy!!!!! (ie, about the same as us!)
Mmmm, lost my post. Thinking about clothing of that time, and all I can come up with in my mind is the Assyrian styles shown in some movies. Any ideas? And can we cross fingers that Michele Clayton design them? Oh and while we are at it, Nora Gold do the casting?
Good to know that ‘Piss-Artistry’ has been around for so long! Must be one of mankind’s oldest recreational pastimes – i.e. Getting pissed 😛
Well, if beer-brewing is a new trend during the era covered by the show, hopefully the female showrunner will be aware that, so far as archaeologists have been able to document, beer was invented by women! A teachable moment, you might say.
ash,
I liked Castle. I was never in a fandom about it and it was really a barmy idea – the best selling author paired with the lady cop. The actors did seem to have a sort of sparkle interacting though and I was quite surprised to read something to the effect they possibly didn’t get along so well in real life. I didn’t like the show about the fake medium helping the police – The Mentalist though that was probably just my taste.
Enharmony1625,
“…it’s just that with GoT I have rarely witnessed fans being so “protective” (for the lack of a better term) of their favourite character(s).”
________________
No kidding. If anything happens to Arya in S8, I may need to seek professional help. Or escape into a vodka void. Or both.
I just watched “Kick-Ass” again. Now I want Jane Goldman to write all six episodes of GoT S8.
“Set thousands of years before the events of Thrones…”
___________
Hey, maybe we’ll see Melisandre as a teenager.
I have issues with prequels when they’re tied closely to what’s been seen and/or have characters that are from an earlier age (like Solo, which I haven’t seen yet). That’s one reason why I didn’t/don’t want a Robert’s Rebellion series. That and I simply think we already know the whole story pretty much… and for my taste it would be too mundane.
Doing a series far removed in time from GoT allows them a lot of freedom in writing. They have pieces to work with and some characters available but otherwise they can do quite a bit fresh. Like most, I do love the characters of ASoIaF, but they too were new to me when I began reading. I’m anxious to see new ones I can glob onto like ASNAWP, Jon, Daenerys, etc.
Firannion,
Cool!
Milutin,
Same, I wanted the Doom. But anything there would cost WAY too much money. All those families as dragon lords. So very CGI pricey.
Ditto. I’ll be depressed AF for weeks if she doesn’t make it out of this alive!
LOL! 🙂
I’ve always guessed that in the books it will be revealed that the Daynes & the Sword Dawn have huge roles to play in the fight vs the white walkers. The Daynes have a history that predates the Targaryens in Westeros. They actually date back to the days of the First Men with the Starks. They also have purple eyes like the Targs & may have the same Valyrian genes.
I get the feeling GRRM is finding a way to tell his “complete” story because D&D seem to have excluded the importance of the Daynes & Dawn from GoT’s. Could that legendary sword be the main weapon in this prequel? Could the part of the story that we don’t know be that the Starks became/started the White Walkers & Nightking and weren’t the heroes in the First Long Night but the Daynes or someone else wielding Dawn was the real Last Hero? Will we see the Wall being built? Magic? Ice Dragon?
On deeper thought, this could actually be a pretty good series. I do fear that this could indeed be GRRM’s nail in the coffin for getting a conclusion to ASoIaF. George may just be content to finish the story & fill in the gaps with tv shows & his Fire & Blood history book.
So how do we find out about auditions
Male heavy? There are plenty of female characters. Yara, Sansa, Arya, Jon, Melisandre, Cersei. I mean, leave it to modern day people to always try to find something to be offended about. Think they’d just be happy another show is coming? Nah, gotta take a shot cuz there are male characters that do male things in a universe written like pre1900 world where women aren’t as free as they are now. GRRM even said this, in more detail too. Sigh….
dotdotdot,
“There are plenty of female characters. Yara, Sansa, Arya, Jon, Melisandre, Cersei…”
Really?!
*lol*
cos alpha,
With that bunch of hair, Jon must be female!
Highly suggest checking out my actual quote – the real read is great! :
“…it’s no secret that the writers and directors of the past several seasons of Game of Thrones have skewed rather male-heavy”
LatrineDiggerBrian,
Just curious, but did you like seasons 6 and 7? I haven’t seen you address it yet.
Now, that You mention it… yeah!
Well I was excited until I saw the comments. If they do end S8 without any closure, then sadly GOT will turn into a money maker. But HBO has to know that anything after GOT has got to be up to the same standard, or excel beyond what they did on GOT. So they have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders for the fans. If the prequels go to shit, then people will subscribe and HBO could lose a lot of money. So I’m hopeful that the prequels will be as exciting if not more for us fans.
Aegon the Icedragon,
Good theory. It was made extra clear to us what sword Ned was carrying when he went into the Tower of Joy.
Steve Snow,
The bloodied sword “Dawn” with the star pommel is simply part of a fragmentary image Bran inadvertently broadcast thousands of years back in time, and in the ensuing milennia got transmogrified into the prophecy that when the “red star bleeds” the PWWP will be born.
That’s my tinfoil theory, and I’m sticking to it.
Pleased with the potential content but unclear if we will ever get to see the pilot or whether it will be shown to a select audience to decide if the show will officially air. If I recall correctly the original GOT pilot didn’t fair too well which led to several actors being recast.
It’s an interesting line, does it mean what we have seen on Got is incorrect or they will flush it out more? Could the 3ER have lied to Bran for example?