HBO isn’t rushing a Game of Thrones prequel series
By Josh Hill
Game of Thrones only has a couple more years left, but HBO isn’t feeling pressure to have a follow of any kind ready in 2019.
We may only have a few years left of Game of Thrones, full stop. While many fans are hoping HBO won’t take its cash cow out to pasture, there doesn’t seem to be a concrete plan in place to produce any sort of a followup once the series goes off the air.
There are still two seasons left, with the upcoming season already delayed to the summer months. So the idea that Game of Thrones is about to leave our lives is still a bit of a foreign concept given we have until at least 2018 to enjoy the show.
But as we approach that deadline, expectations of more Thrones material are on the rise. That’s not forcing HBO’s hand at all, however.
HBO president Casey Bloys did mention that a prequel would be easier to make than a spinoff, but also made sure to note that there is no pressure to have anything ready after the series finale.
"A prequel feels like it has less pressure on it [than a spin-off]. [Author George R.R. Martin’s history of Westeros] gives you areas in which to say to a writer, ‘If you were going to do this, then go flesh it out,’ and we’ll see what comes back. But I don’t feel any pressure that we have to have something."
Thrones fans shouldn’t take this as a complete dismissal of more material. Bloys made sure to mention that the idea of exploring George R.R. Martin’s universe is a no-brainer.
"All I can say is that we’re exploring it. We don’t have any scripts, we’re not even close to saying ‘Oh let’s do this.’ But it’s a big enough property that we would be foolish not to explore it. It’s a really rich world. We’d be foolish not to look at it."
Only time will tell how much Thrones is in our future. If Star Wars and Harry Potter have showed us anything, it’s that no franchise can b e silenced forever.
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At the worst, Game of Thrones will have to endure a stretch of no new material before the series is eventually revisited by someone, somewhere.