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‘Game Of Thrones’ Prequel Pilot Starring Naomi Watts Not Going Forward At HBO
By Dominic Patten, Nellie Andreeva
October 29, 2019 11:56am
HBO
EXCLUSIVE: HBO has more Game of Thrones in the pipeline, but the prequel written by Jane Goldman and starring Naomi Watts is no longer happening.
Showrunner Goldman has been emailing the cast and crew of the project to tell them that the pilot is dead, we hear. The development has not been confirmed by HBO.
The prequel, created by the Kingsman scribe and George R. R. Martin, takes place thousands of years before the wars, romances and dragons of the Emilia Clarke- and Kit Harington-led GoT, which wrapped up its blockbuster eight-season run in May. Weaving in issues of race, power, intrigue and White Walkers, the Goldman-run prequel was given the pilot green light back in June 2018.
It was picked among several GoT prequel scripts that had been commissioned by HBO. While the pilot, carrying heavy corporate expectations, was in editing, HBO in September gave an unofficial pilot green light to a second prequel project from Martin and Ryan Condal, which is set 300 years before the events in Game of Thrones and tracks the beginning of the end for House Targaryen.
Word of the Watts-led pilot, penned by Goldman and directed by S.J. Clarkson, not going forward comes after a lengthy post-production, which included re-editing of the initial cut after it was not well received, and rumors about issues during filming in Northern Ireland.
That is not altogether unheard of for a production of such scope — hardcore fans of the Emmy-winning mothership series will recollect that the $10 million pilot for the show created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss also had a rocky road. The duo and others have admitted that the original GoT pilot was a mess that required it to be re-shot almost entirely at great expense before HBO execs would give the go-ahead to take the project to series.
News of the prequel’s demise comes as HBO owner WarnerMedia hopes to blow some dragon fire of its own today with an investors day presentation of its HBO Max streaming service on the Warner Bros lot in Burbank.
Set to launch next spring, the AT&T-owned media company’s latest foray into the streaming wars has its eyes set on a prize almost as large as the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. With AppleTV+ premiering on November 1 and Disney+ on November to crowd the space already occupied by Netflix, Amazon and the Disney controlled Hulu, plus NBCUniversal’s Peacock on the horizon for 2020 too, AT&T CEO Randell Stephenson declared yesterday that he sees big numbers for HBO Max in such a tight landscape.
The telecom conglomerate boss said in a forecast issued Monday that HBO Max aims to have 50 million U.S. subscribers in its first five years. A desire for more Game of Thrones likely is partially fueling that ambition.
Let's start that GoT spin-off thread now: House of the DragonHBO gives Game of Thrones Targaryen prequel a full series order
By James Hibberd October 29, 2019 at 07:57 PM EDT
As one Game of Thrones prequel dies, another rises from the ashes.
HBO announced Tuesday that its GoT prequel project about the Targaryen civil war has officially received a full series order for 10 episodes.
The spot-on title: House of the Dragon.
Also announced: Emmy-winning GoT director Miguel Sapochnik will serve as co-showrunner and direct the pilot. Sapochnik directed acclaimed episodes such as “Battle of the *******s,” “Hardhome” and “The Long Night.”
The announcement comes just hours after news broke that the network’s first GoT prequel project from showrunner Jane Goldman starring Naomi Watts was not moving forward.
The new prequel was co-created by author George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal (Colony) — who will also be a showrunner on the series.
A poster was also released with the tagline “Fire Will Reign”:
HBO
“The Game of Thrones universe is so rich with stories,” says Casey Bloys, president, HBO programming. “We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George.”
House of the Dragon is based on Martin’s 2019 book Fire & Blood, a history of House Targaryen that spans roughly 150 years. GoT writer-producer Bryan Cogman originally developed the project at the network. Like the other prequel, the story takes place long before the events in GoT, but not nearly as far back as the Goldman project (a couple hundred years before Ned Stark and Daenerys Targaryen, give or take). So Westeros will look different than it is in Game of Thrones, but not too dramatically different based on what Martin has written about the era.
House of the Dragon also takes place during a time in Westeros that has plenty of dramatic established history penned by Martin to serve as a backbone for a story, whereas the pilot only had some vague references to build on.
The events in the new series will eventually lead up to The Dance of the Dragons, a massive civil war in the Seven Kingdoms held between two rival branches of House Targaryen.
The prequel order is the latest in a dramatic succession of Game of Thrones-related news over the last 24 hours. On Monday, Lucasfilm announced GoT showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss (who opted not to be involved in the prequels) are stepping away from their planned Star Wars trilogy. Then the Goldman project — which shot a full pilot in Northern Ireland this summer — was scrapped. Now HBO’s other prequel has lept from development into an official series order.
The news was announced at WarnerMedia’s presentation to investors on Tuesday focused on the launch of its 2020 streaming service HBO Max.
By James Hibberd
@JamesHibberd
Dracarys!
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