The penultimate season of Game of Thrones has yet to premiere on HBO, but already fans are clamoring to learn more about the network’s plans to follow up the epic series.
The show is set to end after the truncated eighth season, finishing the story of the different factions vying for control of Westeros and the unavoidable battle against the looming White Walkers. But recent reports revealed that HBO was planning to expand their programming based on George RR Martin‘s fantasy world with a prequel series… or four.
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With four different spinoff series in development at the network, speculation began running rampant about HBO’s intentions for the series. So programming president Casey Bloys cleared up some details with Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview.
“I want to put the prequels in context,” Bloys said. “It should go without saying I love having a show with this much intense interest around it. Even the smallest bit of information is a big deal and I appreciate that. But I wanted to make sure fans know this is a really embryonic process. I haven’t even seen outlines. In the press at large, everybody said, ‘there are four spinoffs’ and they assume that means each one is happening and we’re going to have a new Game of Thrones show per quarter. That’s not what’s going on. The idea is not to do four shows. The bar set by [David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] is so high that my hope is to get one show that lives up to it. Also, this is a long-term plan. Our No. 1 goal is the seventh season this summer and getting the eighth season written and aired.”
His comments should temper expectations for different spinoffs in the future, as Bloys goes on to say that it’s necessary to develop that many projects in the hopes that one of them can live up to the success of the original series.
“If you only developed one, everything would rest on that one shot,” Bloys said. “It’s such a special show. I want to make sure that [any prequel] feels worthy. We have some amazing writers who want to take a shot at this. They’re also looking at different times in the universe and all will have different feels. This increases our odds of finding one that’s unique.”
Bloys added that we’re still a long ways away from even seeing such a spinoff, and that we shouldn’t expect a “situation where the next show in the Thrones universe launches off the back of this one.”
HBO is focused on what’s in front of the network, and that means the imminent seventh season of Game of Thrones. Beyond that, Bloys wants to ensure that Weiss and Benioff give the series the sendoff it deserves.
So don’t expect to hear anything concrete until we start getting to the end of our time in Westeros.
Game of Thrones Season 7 premieres July 16 on HBO.
Game of Thrones stars Emmy and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Aidan Gillen, Kit Harington, Diana Rigg, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams and Jonathan Pryce. Executive producers are David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Carolyn Strauss, Frank Doelger, Bernadette Caulfield. Co-executive producers are Guymon Casady, Vince Gerardis, George R.R. Martin.
MORE GAME OF THRONES NEWS:
Game Of Thrones Stars Reveal Big Season 7 Roles, Requiring Extra Filming
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