‘Game of Thrones’: Disappointing Update on Animated Spinoff

Game of Thrones may have ended in 2019, but fans will get the chance to go back to Westeros soon. House of the Dragon, the upcoming spinoff series about the rise of the Targaryen family starring Paddy Considine and Matt Smith, begins production in April and likely premiering in 2022. However, the previously rumored animated spinoff series may be less concrete than previously thought.

At the HBO TCA Q&A, HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys offered an update on the animated series, and it seems “far from being real.” “It was really a musing, what would adult animation be like, would GoT land itself to that, so literally that was a conversation and there were a couple of conversations with writers, what do you think, what would this be, is there anything to it,” Bloys said about a potential animated series. “When I say embryonic, I mean really really embryonic.”

Ultimately, Bloys wants to ensure that any Game of Thrones spinoffs are the right combination of story and talent. “I’ve never wanted to do this with a mandate that you must have three series by this time or you must exploit adult animation or you must do that,” he said. “It’s really coming from, would that be interesting, is that good, do we have a writer we believe in. That’s kind of the approach we are taking. I think you have to because if you don’t do that, it would lead to putting shows on for the sake of it.”

Several spinoffs have been scrapped already, including a prequel series starring Naomi Watts. Watts mentioned her disappointment in an interview with Collider. Watts spoke highly of creator Jane Goldman, but couldn’t say much about the details. “She’s fantastic. She’s a force,” Watts said. “Her mind is just beyond brilliant. I loved having time with her…way too short and such a shame because she really kind of got me into that world that I never thought I would be a part of. I hadn’t watched Game of Thrones before and I got to binge it and I got heavily into the whole world. I loved it. But to this day I can’t. I can’t say anything.”

“It’s funny because I have an Instagram account and I found something in my memories,” Watts continued, “pictures that come up – and it was when I was there in costume and I was like ‘Oh! This would be fun to post!’ And I was like ‘No! I can’t do that I’ll get into so much trouble!’ Just the costume, you know? I wasn’t thinking about what I was wearing. It was what I was doing. But anyway. Not allowed to say.”