It was all good just a year ago — literally!
On this day last year, it was announced that actress Naomi Watts would be starring in the official prequel to Game Of Thrones, the first of a handful that were scheduled to follow the original show’s series finale. However, it’s now being reported that HBO has decided to cancel the show after previewing the pilot and not being too thrilled by the results.
Thankfully, the execs at Home Box Office, Inc. aren’t leaving the hoards of faithful GoT fans empty-handed.
#HouseOfTheDragon, a #GameofThrones prequel is coming to @HBO.
The series is co-created by @GRRMSpeaking and Ryan Condal. Miguel Sapochnik will partner with Condal as showrunner and will direct the pilot and additional episodes. Condal will be writing the series. pic.twitter.com/9ttMzElgXm
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) October 29, 2019
While the planned prequel sounded really nice when creator George R.R. Martin unveiled some key details this past summer, including 100 kingdoms and a White Walker origin story, he did also confirm that Lannisters were out and the one thing we were expecting to see would be nixed as well: dragons! Nonetheless, now it looks like the NEW new prequel titled House of the Dragon will fix all of that.
Here’s what Deadline is saying about the whole ordeal:
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.
While this may be bad news for Watts and co., the idea of watching a series that breaks down how exactly House Targaryen rose to power and then slowly fell from grace sounds very promising to say the least. The mere idea of getting a Daenerys Targaryen cameo — foreshadowing scenes and/or final season cameo maybe? — is enough to get us excited already.