Today’s news would be enormous… if we could verify any of it were true. It can’t be emphasized enough that the following are just exciting rumors: the recently greenlit Long Night-set spin-off could enter production sooner than any of us expected; and another prequel is reportedly in pre-production, all about the Doom of Old Valyria.
Belfast Telegraph claims “the Game of Thrones prequel will start in Belfast in October.” According to a source of theirs at the Paint Hall, “this is fantastic news for everyone at the studio – from the cast and the crew, right down to the riggers and the catering staff.”
If October looks awfully soon, that’s because it is… for a series order. But there wasn’t one; what was greenlit wasn’t a first season, but merely a pilot, and filming that so soon would make sense. Even if Jane Goldman’s spin-off goes to series, we probably won’t see it any sooner than we were expecting just because the pilot may be shot this year.
As for today’s larger rumor, it’s a bit of a doozy: according to a “special report” by a Game of Thrones Wiki administrator, another one of the possible prequels, the one helmed by Max Borenstein, may be as developed as the Long Night spin-off, if it not more so. The level of detail here is astounding, which could lead one to believe it’s all true (why bother to make all of this up?) or just the opposite (there’s a lot of detail here).
The gist of it is this: the multi-season series, Empire of Ash, would be set during the decline and fall of Valyria, recording “the social, economic, and political crises which tore apart the empire from within”, and the Doom. It would include expected elements such as dragons and House Targaryen, a minor family of dragon-lords at the time.
The dragon-lords wouldn’t be the only focus, however: supposedly, much of the prequel takes place on a major melting pot port city in the continent of Sothoryos, which in this series would be relatively analogous to Roman North Africa. Consequently, diversity is more emphasized than in Game of Thrones—not only of race, but of gender and sexual orientation as well. Two main characters are described in this mold: a “platinum blonde black female dragon-rider”, daughter of a white Valyrian father and a foreigner mother, who faces discrimination because of this; and a self-made former slave, described as “a deceptively matronly-looking Asian woman in her 50s, that’s now not only one of the richest citizens but also a major political leader and government intrigue-player.”
According to their source, alongside Goldman’s greenlit project, Borenstein’s Empire of Ash is the front-runner of the several in development. Supposedly, Miguel Sapochnik, famous for directing grand Game of Thrones episodes, is attached to make the pilot.
All of this does sound fascinating, and perhaps more refreshing than the announced series. Though we certainly shouldn’t dismiss any of it out of hand, we can’t attest to any of it either. Until there is confirmation, we all should take this with a grain of salt.
hodor?
What a great birthday present for me!! The Doom is the prequel I’ve wanted most of all and my favorite GoT director doing the pilot? Yes please!
Hope it all turns out to be true. That would be fantastic!
first comment section that should not be opened by Hodor, right? so i did not Hodor.
would make sense to focus on the historic events on both continets that led to GoT. and the bits about Valyria in the history and lore section were some of my faves, so please…
Yesss!!!✊✊✊Please dont be fake news! Please! Long Night is boring. We are already getting a semi long night on GOT! Lets make it spicy!! This sounds like Rome with Dragons!!
Fantastic news! My favorite choice for a prequel was Old Valyria. And using other locations is so exciting as well (Asshai, please!). We may not need to be so depressed after Season 8 after all!
Super stoked that GRRM has not just one, but two more things to distract him from finishing the books. I was worried that he might run out of things to do and actually sit down at his ancient word processor and bang out the rest of his story.
/sarcasm
Im sure theyll all be well done, but honestly I cant really get excited about any of them.
If GRRM thought those would all be better stories, hed have based his series on them.
Plus, we already know all of that lore and history and what happened. We dont know how ASOIAF/GOT ends.
Roast,
You do know Martin’s not in charge of any of these prequels, right? The showrunners have consulted with him, of course, but it’s not like he will be actually working on them.
John Stankey must have given HBO additional $$$ to be able to make these two spin-offs, and a lot more programing. He is serious about competing with Netflix.
Exciting news if there can be two GOT spin offs. I prefer the sound of the long night one personally but both excite me plenty.
I’m sure the budget of this certain spin-off would be particularly large since there would need to be lots of CGI and expansive sets… I wonder how much money they would dedicate to just the pilot if it will indeed get the green light. I’m guessing they would not make any decisions to green-light the pilot of this until they see the finished product of the Long-Night spin-off, though.
I wouldn’t be surprised if HBO does try out two spin-offs concurrently, assuming they have the money to throw at the projects. Without GoT, they’re a bit sparse on popular programming (Westworld seems to be losing some popularity, True Detective is doing a 3rd season but it may or may not be well received). So assume one of the shows has a run-time of three months out of the year, two shows would stretch that to somewhere around 20+ weeks of running time per year.
That said, I was really hoping for a Doom of Valyria show, it sounds more interesting at this point than a Long Night prequel.
Luka Nieto,
Doesn’t matter. People just love to dump on GRRM. I guess it’s the “in” thing to do these days. Which of course totally ignores the fact that literally none of this would ever be happening without his creation.
Can we clone Shohreh Aghdashloo? Because that role for a political power player woman in her 50s just screams Avasarala.
But the potential spinoff can’t have her unless the cloning procedure is successful. The Expanse needs Shohreh like a sword needs a whetstone. That is why Tyrion reads so much, Jon Snow.
To be honest, I’m a lot more excited about the ancient Valyria spinoff, largely because it will be well-lit. With the volcanos, the dragons, the glass candles, the tall many-windowed buildings, it ought to be a visual bonanza. In sharp contrast with the upcoming “Long Night” series, which, given the recent trend of directors to use only “natural light” for a supposedly “natural” look, should be basically a solid black screen with shadowy figures sometimes parsimoniously highlighted by the light of a single candle.
My comment seems to have disappeared or else never arrived, so apologies if it pops in again and I wind up saying this twice — this is huge, wonderful news if true. And also, let’s clone Shohreh Aghdashloo for that role, because she would be perfect.
Dear God, if Valryia’s Doom Pilot–and Empire of Ash is an AMAZING title–and eventual series is true (and can come near approaching GOT’s excellence), I will be THRILLED. That has always been THE most fascinating aspect of GRRM’s universe to me. Please, please, PLEASE let this be true!
zandru,
“solid black screen with shadowy figures sometimes parsimoniously highlighted by the light of a single candle”
That made me laugh out real loud! I can totally relate to it😂😂😂
Luka Nieto,
It’s not like he will be actually working on anything 😀
I wonder how the ATT news that came out recently makes everyone feel about this.
All you people running HBO, please make it happen! This is too awesome and I would love to watch both of these prequels.
It makes perfect sense to have Ice (long night brings winter) in Jane Goldman’s series then Fire (old Valyria has dragons) with another.
My dream ending for Daenerys is either travel to unexplored regions or to restore Valyria, and those might not happen for Dany, so this would suffice. Plus one show could air when the other is on hiatus much like what AMC is doing with ‘The Walking Dead.’
What I wouldn’t give to see Valyria. Hope there is at least some truth to it!
This spin-off prequel sounds really exciting!! Please let this be true – I want to watch the series NOW!! To be honest, I haven’t felt all that enthused about a Long Night spin-off. But this? This has all the ingredients for a really great time, and some political real-world relevance as well. Plus, diverse cast, dragons, intrigues, all sound quite awesome!
Quinton O’Connor,
YES, PELASE!! Shohreh Aghdashlo for that role – it would be awesome!!
Any good show ends with the fans still wanting more. GoT has obviously accomplished this. That’s how it’s supposed to be. If a show ends with you NOT wanting more then the show wasn’t very good to begin with.
I just hope HBO will take advantage of fans’ desire for more, more, more to produce a show worthy of it’s predecessor and not lazily use it as a cash cow just to sucker a built-in audience into tuning in every week. Yes, I’m somewhat cynical when it comes to prequels, sequels, postquels, reboots, and remakes, but I’ll try and remain optimistic until proven otherwise. I watched the remake/reboot of “It” the other night and it was pretty damn good, so there is hope!
It’s my birthday today too 😀 happy fellow birthday! And yes! This is great news. I find the rumours of a Valyrian prequel much more intriguing than the one we have confirmed.
Looper,
Che,
Happy name day to you both 🙂
Two thoughts:
I wonder if there’s any casting news yet since filming will start in a few months. I haven’t heard anything, but I don’t keep up with it too much either.
Didn’t HBO recently say that they have a few ideas but are only planning on greenlighting one of them? If so, how could they be talking about doing both The Long Night and the Doom of Valyria? I realize it’s just rumors so far, but it’s a bit contradictory to what HBO previously said.
Long night prequel: Too much like GoT. Count me out, or they only make one series. Would love too see it as a prequel anthology series. Season 1: Long night, season 2: Robert’s rebellion. Season 3: Dance with dragons story. etc.
Epire of Ash: What an amazing title. The story I think it’s very intriguing. The only thing I have is, if it’s done right it could be an amazing show (like Better call saul was to Breaking bad, still amazing), but there need to be an even bigger budget than GoT. And the writing need to be as great as GoT. And I’m worrying that it will be more like Caprica was to Battlestar Galactica. Something that the fans wanted but will disappoint when air. And another point is that one thing GoT will stand out is their fleshed out villains. It’s not only about the heroes. And I hope we don’t get with the new show that we will compare the villains to for instance Cercei.
And it’s funny that before True blood, HBO never wanted to do anything with fantasy. After True blood we got GoT and now they are known for their fantasy/sci-fi shows.
Che,
Happy Birthday!
(Let’s see… how can I fit an Arya reference into this greeting…)
Luka Nieto,
I think he might mean that this is a distraction as in giving him more reasons to do things that distract him, like going to conventions. He does do a lot of things despite writing ASoIaF, and many of them are not related to GoT (his editing and short stories), but many things are related to GoT, even if he doesn’t work on the series anymore.
If the topic petered out after the end of GoT, he might find back to writing the books. But as long as Westeros has a large media presence, he’ll be much more in demand than otherwise, and feel much more obliged to do stuff related to it.
I think he’s lost interest in the books anyway. I had a little bit of hope that people’s interest in the story would go back after the end of the series – at least after a few years, and then – with the whole business shrunken back to size – George would get more interested again, like he was before GoT blew his books (and people’s expectations) out of proportion. But with new series in the making, there is no chance of that, and so no chance of GRRM finding his way back to his books.
Right now, my mind is completely focused on season 8 of GOT.
Can’t even begin thinking about a spin off series…
Especially since it will be GOT with no Lena, Kit, Nicolaj, Emilia, Maise, Peter, and Sophie…..
*tears
Please add my voice to those who have already said both of these ideas should be produced. They complement each other really well: the glittering glory of Valyria with dragon riders a-soaring — where magic will tragically end history — and the groaning, grunting fighters slogging through the mud of Westeros, battling to push magic back into the far north and contain it there.
“…solid black screen with shadowy figures sometimes parsimoniously highlighted by the light of a single candle…”
-Theon burns the letter
-Varys parleys with Ned
-Sandor battles Beric
-Bronn refuses Tyrion’s request
-Jamie and Tyrion recall Orson
-“I will be your champion”
-Reveal Of Roz’ corpse
-Most scenes with Melisandre
-End Of Waif Chasing Arya
-Ygritte & Jon get it on
-Lord Commander Mormont & Longclaw
-Interior Of Craster’s Keep
… and so many more great scenes! Yes! Keep them coming!
Che,
Thanks! Happy birthday to you too!
As for the reason for the delay, Miguel Sapochnik is being heavily courted by Netflix to direct possibly multiple episodes of the Witcher TV series, which would clash with the filming dates for this pilot.
Luka Nieto,
Is it premature to ask if this site will remain up and running for the prequel(s)?
My thoughts for a Prequel:
Season 1: Harren the Black as the tyrant and bad guy with the season ending on Aegon landing to begin his conquest
Season 2: Conquest
Season 3: The First Dornish War
I think it would be cool to have smaller “anthology” series That take us through the Targaryen rule.
Glad to hear that filming on the Long Night pilot is ready to get started soon! Even if we won’t see the series itself for another two years or so (since HBO has said that any spinoff series won’t debut until at least a year after the last season of Game of Thrones has aired), a pilot filming means that we should start to hear casting news in the next few months, and location shooting not long after! All of the good stuff that keeps us here on the Wall busy during our own Long Night, as it were.
The other report, about a potential Doom of Valyria series, does sound fascinating … but once I saw the source for said report, I must admit that my enthusiasm rapidly cooled. I’m afraid that some of the things that the source in question has written and done over the past few years has significantly damaged whatever credibility I might once have placed in such an account.
I’m not saying that the report is invalid or inaccurate … the level of specific detail is quite extensive. But I’ll wait until a more reputable and unbiased reporter corroborates the story before I get too interested.
I was dubious whether HBO would consider going ahead with two spinoff series because there is always that risk of over saturation, but this sounds really cool. I would love to see Old Valeria!
Quinton O’Connor,
I have yet to catch up on The Expanse season 3, but Shoreh is wonderful in her role, so I fully approve.
Very excited about the Long night pilot! Can’t wait for more news! It’s the spin off I wanted and hope with all my heart it develops to a series 😎
Rather meh about the doom of Valyria – wasn’t interested to begin with. Still uninterested.
When GOT concludes, there will be three mysteries in ASOIAF that interest me..
What happened to cause the Doom?
What is Sothoryos like?
What new magics are to be found in Asshai?
You can guess which spin-off I’m looking forward to.
Mr Derp,
I think it has something to do with AT&T and their plans for HBO.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/media/hbo-att-merger.html
HBO is really stepping up, not that it needs to. But with possibly 2 GoT prequels, Westworld, Big Little Lies and Watchmen, they’re going for recognizable brands(books,movies, comics).
Pigeon,
they would have to do something about all the stone men…..
Good heavens. The GoT wiki admin has a possible real leak and thinks the producer/director reads the GoT wiki extensively. No wonder he’s traipsing over the fandom trying to sanitize any damn shameful thing he thinks he did. It’s like Linda Antonsson cleaning shit up when she got the spotlight on her and Elio all over again. Seriously. How about not writing stuff you’re maybe ashamed of at all? Or stop posting weird stuff unless you’re drunk. And/or funny.
That being said, I hope against hope it’s true!
I feel this way too. I’ve lived with the story a very long time now and have never been one to like backstories or prequels. While I’m not as excited as some here, I shall certainly watch. And Happy Birthday, Looper and Che.
I’m very excited about The Long Night pilot seemingly going into production soon! I know I’m in the minority but I think the premise for that show sounds a hellavu lot more interesting than a Robert’s Rebellion prequel or an Aegon’s Conquest prequel. I’m not all that enthused by the latter two. Never have been.
And count me in as a skeptic about the news surrounding a Doom of Valaryia prequel. I read the whole synopsis and it all sounds a bit fanciful imo. Not to cast aspersions on the source but I find all that extensive detail very difficult to believe.
We’ve got actual confirmation about The Long Night prequel and so far we know very little about the actual details beyond it’ll touch on the original Long Night, the Starks of legend and the mysteries of the East but there’s this unannounced prequel and we already know the descriptions of the main characters, which directors are being courted, the socio-cultural issues that will be tackled in the show and the existence of a “series bible”?
Also there’s something very off about the way in which the information is being relayed. I can’t put my finger on it. If it’s proven to be true then great but for now I’m choosing to call BS.
Mia,
I’m with you
The poor stone men/women got a pretty raw deal, considering how relatively easy we now know the fix is (particularly if caught early!) I still would like to know how Shireen was healed….
I’m not holding my breath about a Doom/Valyria show, as it seems a bit too optimistic, however it is one of the more interesting stories to me. Jorah and Tyrion sailing through was one of my favourite scenes in the show! One of the 463 times I thought my #1 Andal was a goner…
Oh man, I really hope they make the Doom of Valyria series! I’d love that. 😀
Boy, do I hope the “Empire of Ash” one does become a series. That sounds fantastic, exciting, and interesting. I’d watch the Long Night one too, though the idea doesn’t intrigue me quite as much. Of course, I’m mainly psyched for Season 8 and it’s difficult to focus on anything else, but I certainly welcome prequels if they can be almost as great as GoT. And the Valyria/Doom concept sounds very promising…no wonder it was many people’s first choice of potential prequel subjects.
Love the title “Empire of Ash”. I have to say I was much more enthused when reading this description than the last prequel idea. Do you think there will be a spot to park your dragon outside the saloon? (or wherever people hang out to get drink in old Valyria) Who wouldn’t be excited when they put Sapochnik in the article!!
I assumed that the “mysteries of the East” in the Long Night show referred to Old Valyria. The timings match up right? They could both be in the same show.
Undead Elephant,
I’m pretty sure that Valyria rose after the Long Night ended, at least according to the given timeline (which should be taken with a grain of salt anyway). I’m not certain… but I’m pretty sure from what I’ve read in the World of Ice and Fire and listened to in podcasts that Valyria rose after the Age of Heroes/ the Long Night.
That is not to say there isn’t evidence that the Maesters have found that contradicts this… at least contradicts that the first dragons in Westeros came long before Aegon’s Conquest, quite possibly before the rise of Valyria.
Man, that Valyria prequel sounds painful.
Reading that description, I get visions of some awful CW teen fantasy show, like The 100.
One question… Is this “admin” referred to our hate-mongering commenter that generally pisses on just about everything during the seasons?
Clob,
No, I don’t think LatrineDiggerBrian is responsible for this one. Oh, wait…
GoT Empire of Ashes, I’m looking forward to this more than Age of Heroes, especially the idea of world expansion into Sorothos and other regions. I’m in for Idris Elba as ruler down south, any excuse to bring him in is a bonus. Having Nymeria as a side plot similar to Dany’s travels in GoT would be icing on the cake. HBO can merge timelines for dramatic affect. The idea of two spinoffs a year would be awesome, one in April and the other October.
No shitting you, when I was imagining how it would look if they’d create Old Valyria I got a sickening vision of some things in The Shannara Chronicles on MTV, which pretty much felt like a CW offering. Sure, some people liked it and it wasn’t all bad, but some elements were too modernly clean, cheesy, and teen oriented for my taste.
Clob,
In all seriousness, yes, it is who you think it is. I clicked on the link in the article to read more about the report and it’s kind of funny. The writer states that they were “sworn to total secrecy” yet here they are, writing about it on GoT Wiki for the world to see.
Regarding the green-lit pilot I’m not overly surprised to hear they are/may film later this year. It’s been my desire and I think it’s wise for them to get rolling on it as soon as possible. Like Luka wrote, they’ll need to create a good pilot to earn the series order which will/could take quite a while to start airing. I’d think HBO would want to ride the wake of GoT as much as possible and a really long gap between the two could deteriorate the roll.
They really should do the original Dance of Dragons or Aegon’s Conquest. Those already have some exciting plot lines. Also, with this one, they will have to be very careful with the wig situation. If the wigs are poorly done, it will look cartoonish.
Ramsay’s 20th Good Man,
Maybe that’s what they want. I have read that there is some pressure for HBO to go a different route.
I still wish they would do a season or mini series chronicling Robert’s Rebellion. There are so many big moments we missed out on:
-Ned’s brother and father getting executed
-The tournament at Harrenhaal
-The siege of Dragonstone
-The Mad King doing stuff
-Randall Tarley defeating Robert
-Robert defeating Rhaeger at the Ruby Ford
-Robert and Ned in the Vale
-Jaime killing the Mad King
-Tywin sacking King’s Landing and having the Mountain kill Oberyn’s sister and her kids
And there’s other things I’m forgetting. Imagine a young Oberyn jousting at the tourney at Harrenhaal?? (I know it wasn’t in the books).
LatrineDiggerBrian,
I don’t. All of it has been described enough in the books and on the show already with ‘current’ results of it all within the series we’re already watching. Yes, some of it would be nice to have a visual, specifically events at the tournament, but I personally don’t desire to ‘waste’ a entire series on it. I don’t think there’s enough there for multiple seasons either. Besides that, we’d be talking about an entire cast of Alden-Ehrenreich-trying-to-be-Solo.
Clob,
Exactly. What’s the point of a Robert’s Rebellion series? We already know all of the major events, we know how it ends, etc…Besides, we’d have to put up with a bunch of replacement actors trying to portay Tywin, Varys, Robert, etc, etc… The risks outweigh the reward 100 times over.
Sometimes I think it’s nice to leave certain details and minutiae to the imagination and not have every little thing spelled out for us.
didi,
Yes, this exactly. I realize that GRRM isn’t running it, and perhaps not even writing for it, but it gives him yet another money making distraction.
Though…if you read his “not a blog”, you can get the sense of a whole lot of “we are working on” going on there:
http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2018/06/11/hbo-greenlights-goldman-pilot/
He is for sure involved in at least one of the green-lit prequels, it will for sure take up some of his time, and I along with so many more would really like to see how the books end.
Don’t get me wrong, love the show, greatest TV of all time. Thought the books were too until I had to wait 5 – 7 years between books.
I grew up watching a lot of the CW shows and I can say that not all of their content is bad, the vampire diaries had its moments, it was good at its peak and the 100 is a pretty decent show, go watch the episode “die all, die merrily,” that might change your mind.
For anyone that remembers pre-GoT production…
(Right around Christmas of ’10 I finally started reading A Song of Ice and Fire after repeatedly seeing the recommendation in book topic threads on random forums for quite some time. It was during the next couple of months while I was finishing the rest of the released books that I found out the show was being made. Somehow I’d missed that information before then. It’s then that I found the site that split to create WotW that I stuck to. Needless to say, I wasn’t following production of GoT until shortly before S1 began airing.)
Unnecessary story that I wasted my own time with aside, how early did the series receive a name? Was it known as Game of Thrones before or while they were filming the initial unaired pilot with the actors that were replaced?
* Something I was refreshed on when I looked for a quick answer is that the pilot that was so awful was filmed in Oct.-Nov. of ’09. Even with all of the recasting and fixing the first season was given a go in March 2010. Had it not sucked so much it might have been immediate. I guess the point being is that there’s a good possibility of having one series officially on GO before S8 airs.
God, I hope that David Peterson is called on to do the languages again… The Dothraki and Valyrian languages on GOT were perfect.
Prequel schmequel. How’s about a postquel, about fans who are going nuts waiting for the last GOT season, called A Song of Nice and Tired
onus bad pun: A Song of Christ, I’m Wired!
Clob,
Lol. I was tempted to mention the Shannara Chronicles too. Major case of style over substance.
Rob,
Perhaps it is.
But one show receives fewer than 2m U.S. viewers an episode on basic cable, while the other receives over 10m and has become one of the most popular shows on the planet, despite being on premium cable/subscription services.
I’d say if it ain’t broke…
River,
Hey, I watched Smallville back in the day. I know such shows aren’t entirely without merit.
But the difference between them and HBO’s output is like night and day.
That description of the Valyria prequel made me wince the same way I do when I’m flicking through the channels and come across Eliza Taylor and co in silly warpaint and costumes, talking about “Grounders” and “Sky People” and fighting like John Wick. Eek!
Quinton O'Connor,
My first thought when I read that description was Michelle Yeoh. I guess “Asian” could go a few different ways. But, I think she’d be great.
Clob,
They should’ve done it on the show through Bran flashbacks, it is known.
I had those at a 0:0 ratio, myself.
Well, I have to admit: this does not interest me much. I’ll probably give it a shot, but prequels rarely are very good: even in cases like this, too much of the plot was written for a different story.
While this sounds exciting, wouldn’t “Empire Of Ash” (great title by the way) make more sense as a miniseries aka limited series, with 7-10 episodes? The Doom Of Valyria is one singular event and while there is fertile ground to cover, it could be done in one single season, as the focus would more than likely will be the event itself. And get Miguel Sapochnick to direct all episodes, like Cari Fukunaga did for the first season of “True Detective”.
“The Long Night” prequel/spin-off, makes more sense as a multiple season series, since there is a helluva lot more history and events to cover within that period of time.
Either way, any more content from the world of “Game Of Thrones” would be most welcome (if done right of course). And HBO needs it badly, seeing that once “Game Of Thrones” ends, they’ll have a giant sized hole in their programming left to fill. Not an easy task to follow a mammoth show like this…
Forgot about the language. So this means a potential Valyria series will come with subtitles? They all speak high valyrian right? I’m not sure I’d enjoy watching that kind of show. Love the idea of old valyria but not thrilled with subtitles onscreen the whole time.
You have to get into it, to appreciate the show. I wasn’t comparing the quality of CW shows with that of HBO, now that would be silly if I did but the ‘story bible’ for the valyria prequel did not remind me of the 100 in any way. The 100 is hunger games with some ‘walking dead survivors do morally questionable acts’ thrown in for good measure. The valyria prequel would obviously hew closer to GoT if it wants to be as successful.
Someone needs to open a chain of pubs called “Ol Nan’s” around the country to help us wait. You could get a free round of “The Imp’s Delight” if you dressed as a GOT character. Have backroom tinfoil discussions in the “house of B&W room”… I was randomly walking through a mall yesterday and I was thinking how awesome it be if there was an Ol Nan’s there to help make the long night easier… I could get into a pre-quel if it’s done well. This would have been the time when magic was still a big part of the world. There are just a ton of possibilities for storylines and amazing visuals with the T’s and their dragons as part of everyday life.
That’s one reason why it hasn’t been on my list of wishes for a series. It and the few known families also have little ties to a majority of the written history or Westeros, especially since the Targaryens went to Dragonstone over a decade before the cataclysm. Most of the story would need to be made fresh and I don’t know that I’m interested enough in what ends in total destruction. I do understand the curiosity and intrigue in Old Valyria and the Doom though. I compare the desire to see that area and other mentioned lands to players of rpg and mmo games waiting for or wanting expansions that open inaccessible lands on the map that may have names, some some history and characters from there. It would be fun to see but if it’s entirely separated from what’s come before I think I’d lose interest.
orange,
Yes, people always dump on GRRM. But really, why would he even think of releasing his book in the middle of the series that has already had to go into new territory? That would be confusing, cause immeasurable comparisons and complaints, both nuisancing him and D&D. Nobody is ever happy. He is smart to wait until GOT dies its death by concluding the final season… before releasing his own version. I never once thought it would be different. I got it wrong if he never releases it, but so far he is doing exactly what I expect.
So apparently the “Game Of Thrones” prequel which will start filming in October 2019, will get an early neighbour, as Lucasfilm will make use of the Paint Hall facilities starting in April 2019…and the movie apparently shooting there will be the “Kenobi” standalone spin-off, the next installment of ” A Star Wars Story” anthology.
On top of that “Krypton” will also be shooting it’s second season at the same location…
Clob,
Clob, I see another “Clob” post regularly on another, US collegiate sports forum. You wouldn’t be the same one would you?
Ser Brocolli McBrocolliface,
I’ve used it or a longer version on several forums for many years but nothing regular on a college team. The only sports related on a regular basis would be for the MN Vikings.
yeah, that would be a smart move by HBO and very thrilling for the audience. after every person we met on GoT, including all chicken eaten anywhere, has told us really every detail about these things at least once, we definitely need visuals of the things we already know.
Book sales, for one thing. Had Winter come out shortly before Series 6, then it would have had a huge opening: it would not quite have been Harry Potter level, but it would have been substantial. Book sales will be much lower after the TV series concludes.
The other reason was simple pride. Martin always intended the TV show to adapt published material. When he made the deal 10 years ago, Dance was going to come out later that year or the next, Winter was going to come out about the time the TV series started, and the last book would come out halfway through.
However, because Martin let himself get so bogged down in trivial details and unnecessary plot lines that did nothing for the over-arching story, he’s still not tripping over Winter. (Again, if only he was willing to work with an editor, then much of this could have been avoided: someone who would have told him to not pursue a lot of the sidetracks and who could have given him simple solutions to his Meerense knot, etc., would also have resulted in a completed series by now.)
Sarcasm much? 😛
I feel the need to point out that the second piece of info comes from “The Dragon Demands”, a notorious presence on many of these GoT online forums for his personal vendetta against David Benioff and the producers of the show, who is proud of having driven Brian Cogman from twitter with his stalker-y behavior and personal attacks. He also gets into fights on pretty much every GoT/ASoIaF forum (including this one.)
In the second sentence of his report, he claims “I was sworn to total secrecy”, after which point, he proceeds to reveal everything that he was sworn to secrecy about.
Now, it may all be true. But consider the source.
David H,
I think we got that. 😉 However, saying his name out loud can sometimes summon him, and we avoid it. 🤪
Always wise advice! And, although Pigeon caught that and perhaps I should have caught that, I didn’t! So, thanks for pointing it out.
Still, they are doing some prequel or another: and I just am not a fan of prequels….
Wimsey,
FYI: The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has the new Dr. Who on the cover, and an article inside about the new showrunner’s selection of the Doctor + 3 companions.
Doctor Who 🙂
Ten Bears,
Sweet! Thanks for the heads-up.
I’m really looking forward to the new season. My interest in the show really fell after Matt Smith left, but I’m excited to see what is to come.
Roast,
I’m not sure GRRM doesn’t have the next book ready to go, but is waiting for the TV show to end. Aside from pleasing the very anxious book readers (myself included), why step on HBO’s (and his) video representation by publishing the ending books now, which are far richer storywise and follow a somewhat different story (and maybe somewhat different ending)? That’s what I’d do, hold off on releasing the book(s) until the HBO series has its final day in the spotlight. There will be enough moaning about the lack of story consistency between the books and show anyway, so why muddy up the ending of the TV show, which has been brilliant in its own right.
Clob,
Well then. You’re not the only Clob out there then!
“Roast,
I’m not sure GRRM doesn’t have the next book ready to go, but is waiting for the TV show to end. Aside from pleasing the very anxious book readers (myself included), why step on HBO’s (and his) video representation by publishing the ending books now, which are far richer storywise and follow a somewhat different story (and maybe somewhat different ending)? That’s what I’d do, hold off on releasing the book(s) until the HBO series has its final day in the spotlight. There will be enough moaning about the lack of story consistency between the books and show anyway, so why muddy up the ending of the TV show, which has been brilliant in its own right.”
…. Yep! This is and has been my point of view all along. Glad someone shares it and agrees the moaning and groaning are wasted energy!!
Because the publishers would sue Martin for lost revenue, that’s why. IF Martin could have gotten the 6th book out before Series 6, then the sales would have been huge. It would not quite have been Harry Potter, but it would have been an event.
Interest in the book series is going to plummet after the TV series ends. The publisher (Tor, I think) will be selling far fewer copies of Winter in 2019 or 2020 than it would have done in 2016 or even 2017.
Moreover, there is almost certainly language in Martin’s contract stating that he will submit the book upon completion. OK, one can quibble about exactly when “complete” is, but if he has the next book ready to go, then everyone is going to know that Martin was sitting on it.
I think that we simply need to face the reality that Martin isn’t done with Winter, and that he’s never going to finish Spring.
I am soooo happy about this news thanks to ATT!!! HBO has to do more GOT now because waiting two years for 6 episodes is actually loosing them money.
Robert Frances: That’s what I’d do, hold off on releasing the book(s) until the HBO series has its final day in the spotlight. There will be enough moaning about the lack of story consistency between the books and show anyway, so why muddy up the ending of the TV show, which has been brilliant in its own right.
Wimsey: Because the publishers would sue Martin for lost revenue, that’s why. IF Martin could have gotten the 6th book out before Series 6, then the sales would have been huge. It would not quite have been Harry Potter, but it would have been an event.
Interest in the book series is going to plummet after the TV series ends. The publisher (Tor, I think) will be selling far fewer copies of Winter in 2019 or 2020 than it would have done in 2016 or even 2017.
Moreover, there is almost certainly language in Martin’s contract stating that he will submit the book upon completion. OK, one can quibble about exactly when “complete” is, but if he has the next book ready to go, then everyone is going to know that Martin was sitting on it. I think that we simply need to face the reality that Martin isn’t done with Winter, and that he’s never going to finish Spring.
Reply: How would anyone actually know if GRRM had finished writing the book? I mean, really. Are there spies in his private residence, or his office? He can leave off writing the final 5 pages if he wanted and who’d know the difference?
And as to your second point, since he has already stated on numerous occasions publicly that he didn’t get to completing the book, then I’m guessing his publisher was ok with those comments. So stating it would not be acceptable by publisher to wait… when that currently is the situation, well… really, you make an argument that is kind of blown out of proportion.
And finally, your belief sales will be best if before the season and harmed if after? Is this just crushed dream of reading it beforehand, or is this point based on something else? I think his book will be a hit whenever it comes out. Some people don’t like the show as well as his books, some people want to compare endings, etc. Whenever released, it’ll make money for his publisher. I think we are guaranteed that. And that the publisher is grateful to have signed him.
Do we assume this has now been debunked following recent comments by the head of HBO? He essentially stated the prequel will start filming in 2019 and that it’s the only one right now.