True to the Iron Islands words, "What is dead may never die," Game of Thrones will continue despite Season 8's conclusion. A new tale will be told and HBO's president of programming, Casey Bloys, dropped a major update about Game of Thrones Prequel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Los Angeles.
According to Bloys, the filming for the pilot in Belfast already wrapped up, and it is now getting edited. "We finished shooting the [pilot of the] prequel in Belfast, I was very excited about footage I saw in the past," he said, via Deadline.
In May, Bloys couldn't confirm if Game of Thrones Prequel would be out in 2020, saying releasing it a year after the original show ended felt a little too rushed. A couple of months later, he remained noncommittal, teasing he's excited "but no timeline yet."
Bloys continued to say they haven't seen a cut from the series yet but revealed the cast looks good in the show. "It's exciting," he added. The prequel will have "some references" from the original series, but there will be "no direct references."
There are also questions if Game of Thrones Prequel will be picked up into a full-blown series. If this happens, Bloys cleared it would stay as an HBO original and would not be on HBO Max. However, as part of WarnerMedia's business plan, all HBO series will be available on the network's new streaming platform.
Meanwhile, aside from Game of Thrones Prequel, George R.R. Martin earlier teased on his blog that there would be two other spinoffs in work. He said these projects are "moving nicely" on HBO, but Bloys refused to comment about the status of the other prequels.
Bloys explained he wanted to see how the first prequel would go first before they dive in the spinoffs. He didn't even comment on the possibility of having another green-lighted show offshoot by the end of the year.
Jane Goldman works on Game of Thrones Prequel, along with the series' main brain Martin. It stars Naomi Watts and Josh Whitehouse, among others, but their characters' name and storyline are bound to secrecy.
It can't be denied that the original series' fans are excited about Game of Thrones Prequel, but TVGuide noted the enthusiasm might have subsided after the final season backlash. But from the looks of it, HBO is doesn't even worried about the issue. Season 8 even got 32 Emmy nominations for the record.
