When it rains, it pours, Game of Thrones fans. Just yesterday, HBO surprised us all by dropping an 11 o’clock Bud Light ad, featuring The Mountain and other various Game of Thrones highlights. Now, our world is being rocked once again with news of the first of the long-awaited spin-off. HBO programming president Casey Bloys tells Entertainment Weekly that production for the pilot is slated to begin in early summer!
So what exactly does “early summer” mean? While the summer months technically include any time period from June 21st through September 1st, that’s not necessarily the case in the entertainment industry. Many of those ‘summer blockbusters’ you fondly remember debuted on the big screen as early as the first week in May, long considered to be the beginning of the ‘summer blockbuster season.’ But then Marvel broke all the rules last year, so all bets are off on what ‘the summer months’ even means anymore.
Is Bloys referring to May, when the eighth season will be in full swing? Is he referring to June, right when the finale will have blown our minds away? Or, is he referring to July, whereupon the dust may have settled but our hearts will have lain shattered on the floor? After all, “early summer” would surely include July 1st, only 10 days after summer’s begun. In any case, production for the spin-off’s pilot will begin much later than the February date Game of Thrones VFX supervisor Joe Bauer offered half a year ago.
Speaking of speculative dates, everyone’s favorite former Dothraki, Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo), spoke with Entertainment Tonight, who asked him what he remembers most of his time on Game of Thrones. Completely unprompted to do so, he apparently revealed more than we’d expect: “I mean, it was the prime years of my life, and got to spend it on a really quality show with beautiful people, and we’re all still family, so I’m excited to go to the premiere on the 3rd.” So what do we think? One assumes Momoa is referring to April 3rd, which means, if he’s right (with as yet no verification from HBO), at the time of writing we have 57 days days left until the Red Carpet premiere of season eight!
Thanks to loyal WOTW reader Davos’ Luck for forwarding this interview with Momoa! Let’s all raise a glass. What do you make of the vague dates, folks?
Oh wow 57 days until the red carpet premiere!
I live to serve! đ
Yup, less than two months for the premiere. It has been a long wait, but we are almost there.
“In past years, VFX work was still being finished up while the season had already started airing, with only days to spare, so season eight could yet premiere sometime in May or early June and jibe with Bloysâs claim that the show would air during the âfirst halfâ of next year. However, if you were hoping for March or April, or even February as some suggested, Joe Bauerâs schedule for the VFX team appears to dash all hopes of that”
I just reread that article linked to in the post. Good thing Bauer was wrong lol.
Jack Bauer 24,
Not necessarily. They’ll be working on the the last VFX even as the show is airing, so the idea of them working until May still makes sense, even with what we know now. I, who wrote that article, was the one who went a bit too far ruling out the entire month of April as a possibility for the premiere date.
Oh thanks for the clarification. But from that same article, Bauer also said âin two yearsâ theyâll âbe eligible for the Season 8 [VFX] work. So I’m guessing he thought it wouldn’t originally be premiering in April?
Jack Bauer 24,
I never bought that, or simply read him as someone not really in the position to talk about when the show will air. I was very confident on an April (21st) premiere by the time of that article. When he said they’d be working into May that only bolstered my belief knowing that they do typically work on VFX stuff as the season is airing. I actually wrote something to that effect in that thread. đ
The 3rd would make sense, cool!
I think I’ll be interested in the prequel after this series is over. I can’t feel overly invested in it as of yet. Maybe I just suck at multitasking. đ
I’ll start my countdown 6 weeks out from the premiere. That’s a nice manageable span of time.. and that’s just 4 weeks from today.
Nah, multitasking is my life, and I can’t quite muster the energy to get overly excited about it yet either. I probably will eventually. (I always tend to be late getting into things anyhow; it’s just lucky that I happen to already be a GoT fan.) Guess it’s because the prequel won’t have anything to do with any of the beloved characters with whom we only have SIX episodes remaining…;_;
And yaaaayyy, thanks, Jason! I’ve been waiting on that bit of info. *jots on calendar* So looking forward to seeing the photos and outfits and footage…
Shelle,
Beloved characters? Try this ….
Naomi Watts….
Rewatched eposodes 1 & 2 yesterday and now that we all know what only Nedd Stark knew back then, all his actions are suspicious!
When Jon and Nedd part at the crossroads outside Winterfell, Nedd knows what it means for Jon to commit his life to the Night’s Watch. He knows that Jon doesn’t belong there and that it is an injustice. Benjen is the only one who suggested to Jon that he wouldn’t pledge not to father children if he “knew what it meant” Did Benjen understand what it meant for Rheagar’s only surviving son to not father children?
I don’t know if Benjen knew, but Nedd definitely did.
He knew that Rheagar and Lyanna’s son would never marry or father children at the Wall and would likely die young… killing out the Targaryen line …and Lyanna’s line. Isn’t it ironic that it appears that it’s Nedd’s line that is about to end, instead?
Then he tries to give Jon a shit sandwich of a consolation prize, telling him that he has Stark blood and that the Night’s Watch is an honour.
When Jon arrives at the Wall it’s like he walks through the gates into Hell and we discover that, contrary to the myth, hell is a bleak landscape covered in ice.
Nedd sent Jon to Hell.
Anon,
Brilliant synopsis.
What, you don’t wanna fight? đđ
Thx
I struggle with whether Nedd was deliberately harmful to Jon but when I compare it to what Roose did for Ramsey, Nedd falls short in that Battle of the Fathers. Roose gave Ramsey property and his name and arranged a good marriage. Roose never sent Ramsey to the Wall.
I’m kind of resentful on Jon’s behalf and feel the unfairness of it keenly. Do you think that Nedd continued to believe the rape story? What if he still saw Jon as son of his sister’s rapist? Was he hostile because of what the mad king did to his father?
Anon,
I don’t think Ned saw Rhaegar as Lyanna’s rapist. Not after her dying declarations to him. Which makes Ned’s (mis-)treatment and lies-by-omission to Jon all the more indefensible.
By the way, I was never a Ned Superfan – ever since he was so concerned about the welfare of Cersei’s incest bastard children that he neglected to get his own daughters out of harm’s way before the sh*t hit the fan.
If Lyanna didn’t explicitly say that she loved Rhaegar and that they had married, Nedd must have realized the truth by how she named the baby.
I was done with Nedd the moment he cut that boy’s head off. It was an opportunity to exercise the discretion that all judges have at their disposal, but he just dully carried out his ‘duty’. I guess it’s kind of like the dullness in how he handled Cersei.
â…whether Nedd was deliberately harmful to Jon but when I compare it to what Roose did for Ramsey, Nedd falls short in that Battle of the Fathers.â
Ned was simply doing his (dim) best to satisfy his conflicting duties to his sister and his grace, Robert the Usurper. Lyanna makes him promise to protect Rhaegarâs son; Robert wants all Targs eliminated. So, Ned renames Lyannaâs son for Jon Arryn, mentor to both Robert and Ned, to endear the boy to Robert. Sending Jon to The Wall removes any chance he can become Robertâs rival, and it also removes Jon from Robertâs authority.
The Starks have long considered service in the Nightâs Watch both honorable and necessary; Ned honestly never thinks of sending Jon to The Wall as any sort of punishment. Indeed, if anything, sending him to work with Benjen emphasizes Jonâs identity as a Stark.
Ha!
My favorite of hers is still Rachel from The Ring. x-3
It’s tough to imagine loving a new crop of characters as much as the GoT one, but hopefully they can make it happen.
Haha nice one Jason! I had been speculating with Jack Bauer on an earlier thread that the premiere will be a week or so before it’s released to the rest of us so 3rd April makes total sense. I’d imagine key press people like Joanna Robinson, James Hibberd and Kim Renfro will also be there so we will likely get a few quality snippets from them too.
Out of interest do any of the mods from Watchers get invited to the red carpet premiere given the loyal service you guys do?
Alternatively if anyone is planning to do a re-watch if you start today and watch one episode per day then that will take you through to the Premiere! I’m planning to start mine next week so will have to cram in a few back to back episodes.
Ned clearly didn’t take those actions out of spite and more likely he didn’t realise how badly conditions within the Nights Watch had detiorated. Remember Lord Royce’s son also joined the Nights Watch so it was considered an honour and likely Ned felt he would be safe up there (not knowing about the White Walker invasion and knowing Robert would have him killed if he ever found out).
According to Dante’s Inferno, the Ninth Circle of Hell – the deepest part, where the worst sinners go: people who betrayed their benefactors – is a frozen lake. Fiery punishment happens several circles higher up, where the violent go.
Firannion,
I havenât read Dante (shameful, I know)… So am I to understand that Daenerys rescued the Magnificent & Foolish Seven from the *actual* ninth circle of hell? đ
Could be. Getting stuck there means being literally frozen solid and motionless in the ice – unless youâre the three worst sinners of all time, per the standards of Renaissance Italy: Judas, Brutus and Cassius, who each get chewed eternally by one of Satanâs three heads in the center of the lake.