HBO Drops “Game of Thrones” Prequel

Winter is canceled. After much anticipation of the prequel series to Game of Thrones, HBO has officially pulled the plug on the project.

Jamie Campbell Bower (young Gellert Grindelwald), Toby Regbo (young Albus Dumbledore), and Miranda Richardson (Rita Skeeter), along with Naomi Watts (Mulholland Dr, King Kong) and Georgie Henley (Lucy in the Chronicles of Narnia trilogy), were all cast in the new series. This series was going to be set approximately 5,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones. However, the plot for the unnamed series was not revealed. The pilot episode was filmed over the summer before HBO ultimately decided to cut it.

This was not the only Game of Thrones-related project to come from the series’ end; HBO also dropped several other projects in the works. But not to worry, the network has signed on to a different prequel series to Game of Thrones. The new series, titled House of the Dragon, was given a ten-episode order. Instead of being placed 5,000 years in the past, this new one is established 300 years before the plot of Game of Thrones and is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, which was released last year and tells the story of the Targaryens’ reign in Westeros.

Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal are collaborators of House of the Dragon. They will, of course, utilize the creative genius of George R.R. Martin as well. Sapochnik directed several episodes of the original series, including “Battle of the Bastards,” one of the show’s highest-rated episodes.

We’ll all miss the original Game of Thrones, but House of the Dragon could give fans more of the magic from Westeros they’ve been craving. Are you excited for the new series?