When HBO announced last month that the network was planning four prequels to their enormously popular series Game of Thrones, the show’s fan-base was split. While some were excited at the fact that they might not need to say goodbye to author George R.R. Martin’s universe for good after the fast approaching final season of Game of Thrones, others were skeptical. Some fans have grown concerned that four prequel shows are far too many, reflecting the fact that HBO might be producing them out of a profit-driven agenda more than a respect for the source material.
With all of these opinions swirling around the internet, HBO programming president Casey Bloys set out to clarify the network’s plans and intentions with the prospective Game of Thrones prequels in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Bloys first emphasized the fact that the possible shows are in the extremely early stages. “I wanted to make sure fans know this is a really embryonic process,” Bloys stated. “I haven’t even seen outlines.”
Bloys continued to explain that the multiple spin-offs might not all be produced. He clarified, “In the press at large, everybody said, ‘there are four spinoffs’ and they assume that means each one is happening. …That’s not what’s going on. The idea is not to do four shows.” Instead, Bloys explained that HBO wishes to explore all possible routes and have four potential prequels and spin-offs that they are allowing to go through the early stages of development in order to weigh which ones are worth pursuing. While HBO might not want to do all four, Bloys did say that the network might still do more than one prequel series to Game of Thrones, due to the fact that HBO does not want to put all of its eggs in one basket in their continuation of the George R.R. Martin universe.
George R.R. Martin has come out and said that neither his companion novellas following the characters of Dunk and Egg nor the story of Robert Baratheon’s rebellion against the Targaryen rule will be pursued by HBO. This news serves as a bit of a disappointment, as the possibility of either of these stories being brought to the screen garnered a high level of support amongst the show’s fan-base. It remains to be seen what story ideas are being contemplated and what will actually be put into production.
Game of Thrones Season 7 premieres July 16 on HBO.