HBO’s Game of Thrones Prequel Is as Dead as All Your Favorite Characters
Image via HBO
The Game of Thrones prequel tentatively known as The Long Night’s watch has ended before it even began: Variety reports that the pilot, starring Naomi Watts, and masterminded by co-creators Jane Goldman and George R.R. Martin, will not move forward as an HBO series, a shocking development considering the pay-cable channel (who declined to comment for Variety’s story) once had a whopping five potential prequels under consideration—and here we thought HBO wanted to press an icy thumb to the forehead of as many new Thrones projects as possible, building a veritable army of White Walker-esque expansions on Martin’s epic saga. “At this time, none of the other projects are believed to be moving forward either,” Variety shockingly reports.
The officially untitled pilot, which HBO ordered last summer ahead of Thrones’ final season, had been set to take place thousands of years prior to the flagship series, with a story from Goldman and Martin, and a teleplay from Goldman, who was also in line to serve as showrunner. Stars to appear alongside Watts in the pilot’s ensemble cast included Josh Whitehouse, Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sheila Atim, Ivanno Jeremiah, Georgie Henley, Alex Sharp, Toby Regbo, Miranda Richardson, Marquis Rodriguez, John Simm, Richard McCabe, John Heffernan and Dixie Egerickx. S.J. Clark (Star Trek 4) directed the pilot, also serving as an executive producer alongside Goldman, Martin, SJ Clarkson, Daniel Zelman, James Farrell, Jim Danger Gray and Thrones EP Vince Gerardis.