Last week brought surprising Game of Thrones spin-off news, with Deadline dropping a scoop on Thursday: a second spin-off set in the world of Westeros is on the horizon, the publication reports, with a pilot centering on the legendary Dance of the Dragons possibly close to being ordered. Today, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin clarified the report and confirmed that we’re closer to another new Thrones show, in a new blog post.
Martin confirms right off the bat that the first new pilot, the one he prefers to call The Long Night and that has been called Blood Moon by production, has been in post-production and he expects to see a first cut soon. He also mentions that, “Last month in Belfast, I got a behind-the-scenes look at some of her sets, and they were spectacular.”
As for the new show being created by Ryan Condal, GRRM doesn’t tell us the title, but does say, “[It’s] not the obvious title.” This would imply it’s not “(The) Dance of the Dragons”, since that was the title everyone immediately landed on. He confirms the new work does have dragons, and “a script and a bible” and calls them “terrific, first rate, exciting.”
Martin is quick to clear up confusion about terminology surrounding the pilot vs script status, making it clear where they stand. “I do want to point out that ‘moving closer to a pilot order’ is NOT the same thing as ‘getting a pilot order.’ Would that it were. This is encouraging, this is exciting, but don’t buy the couch just yet. When HBO actually gives us a pilot order, you will hear me shouting it from the rooftops. A series order, and I’ll be shouting even louder. But we’ll see. Right now all the signs are good, but nothing is confirmed.”
Martin also confirms that this new script and potential show doesn’t have any affect on the Jane Goldman Blood Moon spinoff, as some have said it does.
For the complete blog entry, head on over to the Not a Blog. Forget about commenting though- he’s wisely disabled comments!
Ok, i’m not one to read entrails over scraps of news, but it strikes me that “not the obvious title” indirectly confirms the subject matter is Dance of the Dragons, otherwise it wouldn’t be obvious. Ha, out smarted yourself GRRM!
This was pretty much already confirmed though, lol.
Keep ’em coming! I’m not worried about oversaturation of fantasy on the small screen. If they’re all done well I’ll take all I can get. In my opinion I think series dumps by streaming services lessen the issue, as well as seasons of series typically being 8-10 episodes these days. People binge in a few days at most and then need another show. I preferred GoT weekly (and will for any prequels) for the lengthened buzz and all of the fan community discussion as we went along. Streaming services don’t seem to care much about that.
(They’re reportedly going to drop the eight episode first season of The Witcher all at once in a few months even though there have been some rumblings of Netflix doing some future programming weekly.)
I think they’ve already started doing this. If I recall correctly, the new season of the Great British Baking Show is only making one episode available each week.
Mr Derp,
They already experimented it with Arrested Development by dividing the season into 2 parts. It was annoying to wait a whole year for the second part when they first promise to give it within 6 months.
Yes, please! I’d love as many Westeros themed shows possible, and Targaryens equal dragons, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the rumour to become a pilot and a pilot to become a series.
Could be interesting. I came across this (from a UK satire site – a bit along the lines of Cracked only UK focused). I found it funny in a silly sort of way though it’s a month old now. I don’t know if non-British people would get the joke. https://newsthump.com/2019/08/29/boris-johnson-commissions-fantasy-writer-george-r-r-martin-to-write-queens-speech/
Count me in as someone who thought there was no chance they’d ever do the Dance of Dragons. If they really do that, they’re looking at two straight seasons of The Bells like episodes. It’s going to be the most expensive thing ever filmed. May as well hire James Cameron to direct. Both battles of Tumbleton. The God’s Eye. Dragon on dragon combat. So much spectacle.
I wonder if they’ll change the names of the Tully lords. George could somehow get away with Grover, Elmo, Kermit, and Oscar, but I don’t see how that plays on television without being supremely distracting. We’ll be taken out of the action laughing our asses off every time they call Kermit and Oscar the “green boys.”
Is it possible HBO either said no to the Blood Moon pilot, or at least told them to reshoot some of it? Some of the tip toe innuendo would seem to suggest that to me.
Dame of Mercia,
Hahahaha, that moment about Joffrey.
Seriously, reading about the Dance of the Dragons on TV makes my knees shake.
I. Am. So. Hyped.
I just cannot wait to see who they would cast as Aegon II and Alicent Hightower!!!!
Fun fact, I have always wanted to play Aegon II 😂
Side thought: congratulations to Peter and Maisie for winning Best Supporting Actor and Actress at the GoldDerby TV Awards.
Yes…that was indeed… ahem… clarifying…
kevin1989,
I’m glad we agreed on something!
Elmo? It’s already been done, in his scene with Cersei and Tyrion:
Hmmm so in hindsight now did the new spin off come about because they knew they were cancelling bloodmoon? Feels like GRRM was being a bit cagey here, perhaps understandable given the news which came last week.
I hate the way Netflix is moving to this weekly model. Dropping the content in one game was what made them unique and allowed us to binge:( Thankfully I still have the second season of Punisher to watch before the Watcher drops so I’ll wait for it all then give it a go.
Well you got that spot on:-D