Everything We Know about HBO’s Game of Thrones Prequel So Far
The prequel pilot's working title is The Long Night
Image via HBO
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The end of an era is rapidly approaching: Game of Thrones, the HBO fantasy juggernaut, is coming to an end. Its final season will premiere in 2019 and, at just six episodes, will be over before we know it. For fans who have grown to love the show for its dragons and draconian politics, it may feel like an endless winter is coming. But worry not— HBO has been formulating various prequels for some time, one of which was given a pilot order over the summer. The details may not yet be set in stone, but we can still take stock of the situation and see just how much we know.
How Are They Going to Tell Even More Stories?
If there’s one thing GoT is famous for (aside from that whole “dragons, nudity, and killing off any character you’ve ever loved” thing), it’s the sprawling, entangled plot lines. While the show’s recent seasons may have streamlined the story a bit, GoT’s rise in popularity was due in large part to the complex intrigue of the early seasons. So with all those stories already told, coupled with the show’s current trajectory towards what looks to be an Armageddon-level ending, the question becomes: What stories are left to tell?
Reports about the GoT spinoffs have repeatedly emphasized the fact that the shows will be prequels, rather than continuations of the main story. “Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour,” reads a synopsis of the prequel pilot. On Tuesday, Martin posted on his “Not A Blog” about the show, where he referred to it as The Long Night. There has been no official title announcement yet, but Martin’s working title gives us some sort of idea of the show’s timeframe. “The Long Night: refers to the ancient war between the White Walkers (or as they’re called in the books, the Others) and the early societies of Westeros during a time called The Age of Heroes. It’s an event that has been hinted at in the novels and expanded upon in Martin’s companion anthologies, and so a show set during that time would have plenty of background text to draw from, while still being ripe for creative interpretation.
Although the ancient days of Westeros seem to be the most likely setting, there’s a wide range of historical plot lines the show can draw from. In addition to the main story, Martin has also worked on a series of prequel novellas called Tales of Dunk and Egg, which on the early adventures of a future Targaryen king, Aegon V, and his friend and protector, Duncan the Tall, the future Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. The series takes place around 90 years before the main novels, and details what life under Targaryen rule was like, while containing Martin’s signature sprawling storylines—however, the author has tempered expectations of viewers hoping to see his (as-of-yet-incomplete series of) Dunk and Egg novellas onscreen, noting, “When the day comes that I’ve finished telling all my tales of Dunk and Egg, then we’ll do a TV show about them … but that day is still a long ways off.”
Martin has also compiled a vast history of his world in the form of various compendiums and novellas. The Princess & the Queen, along with the forthcoming Fire & Blood, detail the complete history of House Targaryen, with a large focus on a civil war between rival branches called the Dance of Dragons. The World of Ice & Fire is a similar historical document, told from the point of view of an in-universe historian, that focuses briefly on events from across the entire world of the books.
Regardless of what direction the showrunners end up going in, the world of GoT is so rich and deep that they should have no problem finding inspiration of some sort.
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