At long last, we know the title of theGame of Thronesprequel series. We just learned recently that HBO has tapped Oscar-nomineeNaomi Wattsto headline the cast of the new show, which was one of five different spin-offs the network had in development. Now, author and franchise creator George R.R. Martin has confirmed the title of the upcoming prequel in a new blog post.
As had been suspected, and even suggested by the author previously, the series will officially be titledThe Long Night. It’s unclear if HBO will simply stick with the title as such or if they will do something like Game of Thrones: The Long Night in order to help with branding. In any case, at least one of a great many questions about the series has been answered. Here’s whatGeogre R.R. Martinhad to say about it in his blog post.
“Casting is now underway for The Long Night, the first of the Game of Thrones successor series to ordered to film.”
Fans are surely aware thatGame of Thrones season 8will be its last and will consist of just six (albeit very long) episodes, set to debut next year. HBO will undoubtedly hope to haveThe Long Night, which takes place thousands of years before the events of the main series, ready to go for 2020. That way, they don’t skip a beat when it comes to exploring the world of Westeros.
The network hedged their bets by putting five different spin-offs in development and, ultimately, the idea cooked up by George R.R. Martin andJane Goldmanwon out and will, at the very least, shoot a pilot. It seemed like the other projects had fell by the wayside, but speaking further in his latest blog post, Martin also revealed that a couple of the other spin-offs may still see the light of day. Here’s what he had to say about it.
“Meanwhile, there are still a couple of other possible prequels in active development. I can’t tell you the subject matter of those projects, no, sorry, wish I could. The readers among you might want to grab a copy of Fire & Blood when it is released on November 20, though.”
So, not only is casting underway for the prequel series, but it sounds like HBO may want to double down onGame of Thronesif they can. And why not? If they have another idea worth exploring, there is certainly an audience for it. Currently, there is no word on when filming will get underway onThe Long Night, but Martin notes that Jane Goldman is neck-deep in casting and it would seem likely cameras could get rolling in early 2019. With that, we should be hearing news regarding who will join Naomi Watts sooner rather than later. To check out the full blog post, you may head on over toGeorgeRRMartin.com
