Game of Thrones Prequel Series (Naomi Watts) (1 Viewer)

[SamT]

Game of Thrones prequel pilot ordered by HBO: All the details ...

HBO has officially greenlit a follow-up pilot to its acclaimed international hit Game of Thrones and it sounds just as massively ambitious as the original series.

The network has ordered a prequel drama from writer Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service, X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass) and author George R.R. Martin. The network has released an official description of the show’s storyline, and it’s another tale spread across multiple locations and clans: Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour.

 

[Sam Favate]

I'm excited for this show, but the description begs the question: Why can't we ever see a show about the golden age instead of the darkest hour?

 

[Dheiner]

I'm excited for this show, but the description begs the question: Why can't we ever see a show about the golden age instead of the darkest hour?

Golden ages are boring to watch.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I'm excited for this show, but the description begs the question: Why can't we ever see a show about the golden age instead of the darkest hour?

The snow may never slush upon the hillside.
By nine p.m. the moonlight must appear.
In short, there's simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This project is gaining steam. HBO released the following synopsis:
“Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’s history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend… it’s not the story we think we know.”

HBO announced the following casting:

From left to right:

• Naomi Watts (Academy Award nominee for 21 Grams and The Impossible), who headlines as "a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret"
• Josh Whitehouse ("Poldark", the upcoming Valley Girl)

From left to right:

• Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth, the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX)
  
• Denise Gough (two time Olivier Award winner for People, Places and Things and Angels in America)
  
• Jamie Campbell Bower (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, "Camelot", the Twilight movies, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, "Will", Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald)
  
• Sheila Atim (Olivier Award winner for Girl from the North Country)

From left to right:

• Ivanno Jeremiah ("Humans")
  
• Georgie Henley (The Chronicles of Narnia movies, The Sisterhood Of Night, upcoming Starz miniseries "The Spanish Princess")
  
• Alex Sharp (To the Bone, How to Talk to Girls at Parties)
  
• Toby Regbo (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, "Reign", Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, "The Last Kingdom")

Jane Goldman (Stardust, Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, The Woman in Black, the Kingsman movies, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children) will serve as showrunner.

SJ Clarkson ("Life on Mars", "Jessica Jones", "The Defenders", HBO’s "Succession" and the upcoming Star Trek movie) will direct the pilot.

Goldman and Clarkson will executive produce, alongside "Game of Thrones" creator George R.R. Martin, former BBC Studios executive James Farrell, Jim Danger Gray ("Pushing Daisies", "Hannibal", "Orange is the New Black"), Vince Gerardis ("Flashforward", "Game of Thrones"), and Daniel Zelman ("Damages", "Bloodline", "Succession"). Chris Symes (Hellboy II: The Golden Army, "The Alienist") will be a co-executive producer.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

SJ Clarkson ("Life on Mars", "Jessica Jones", "The Defenders", HBO’s "Succession" and the upcoming Star Trek movie) will direct the pilot.

Sadly, it does not appear there will be an upcoming Star Trek movie; Clarkson became available to direct this after Paramount released her from her obligation to them.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Sadly, it does not appear there will be an upcoming Star Trek movie; Clarkson became available to direct this after Paramount released her from her obligation to them.

Have we heard anything official on this? That credit was included in HBO's official PR, implying that Clarkson still thought she was directing the movie at the time they announced this.

I saw one website assume that because she's doing this, Star Trek 4 must not be happening. And then a bunch of other sites picked up the story.

 

[Sam Favate]

Have we heard anything official on this? That credit was included in HBO's official PR, implying that Clarkson still thought she was directing the movie at the time they announced this.

I saw one website assume that because she's doing this, Star Trek 4 must not be happening. And then a bunch of other sites picked up the story.

ST4 was to begin filming in early 2019. There's been no movement from Paramount after salary negotiations fell apart with Pine and Hemsworth, so it's not starting any time soon. The actors and director have to be free to pursue other projects while Paramount makes an official decision, but getting the band back together when Paramount is ready could prove tricky. It will happen, but who knows when? It could take years, which in today's environment is too long.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Have we heard anything official on this? That credit was included in HBO's official PR, implying that Clarkson still thought she was directing the movie at the time they announced this.

Not officially, but I believe it's been reported that she was released from the hold they had on her; she may still be contracted to do the film if it's resurrected, but they had a hold on her in terms of scheduling, and apparently she (or her agent) was informed that the film was not happening on the timeframe she was contracted to work on it for.

If things had gone as Paramount had originally intended, she would be deep into pre-production and about to go into principal photography right about now, which obviously is not gonna happen with Paramount refusing to pay Chris Pine the salary that they previously signed him for.

 

[SamT]

HBO cancels Game of Thrones prequel starring Naomi Watts

A massively hyped Game of Thrones prequel series is not moving forward.

HBO has scrapped plans for a prequel from showrunner Jane Goldman that starred Naomi Watts and took place thousands of years before the original series. The network shot a full pilot episode in Northern Ireland earlier this year and has elected not to pick up the series. EW first heard of the plan to scrap the pilot weeks ago but HBO did not confirm the news.

A second GoT prequel project focusing on the Targaryen Civil War, however, is still in the works. The project hasn’t officially received a pilot order, but with this news, an order seems more likely.

 

[SamT]

'Game of Thrones': What's Next for Westeros After the Naomi Watts Prequel Pass?

In the wake of HBO's decision to pass on Jane Goldman and George R.R. Martin's prequel pilot, where does the fantasy franchise go from here?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm bummed that it's not moving forward, since it seemed like a really cool concept and a really cool time period to explore. But I'd rather they not make anything than make something subpar.

 

[Sam Posten]

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/29...f-series-house-of-the-dragons-ordered-hbo-max

 

[SamT]

Why did they even spend money to shoot an episode and then cancel it while green lighting this one sight unseen?

 

[Malcolm R]

I think setting a series "thousands of years in the past" would be a hard sell to audiences, as it would be essentially a completely new series with little connection to GOT.

A series set in the recent past that includes some familiar characters and settings will be easier to promote as a series connected to GOT. Probably easier to film, too, as they can reuse many of the same sets and locations from GOT.

 

[SamT]

Yes but why waste money on an episode?

 

[Malcolm R]

Perhaps they wanted to see how it would look/work, and if they could make the connections that this was part of the GOT universe. They must have been unsuccessful.

HBO made plenty of money on GOT, so I'm sure a few million for a pilot isn't a huge loss. They still might be able to turn the episode into a stand-alone movie or some kind of "exclusive" bonus episode of the new series ("here's a special look at what it might have been like in Westeros thousands of years before GOT") they can use to recoup some of the money spent.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Unaired pilots are a relatively common thing, plenty of proposed TV shows have a pilot shot, then shopped around to the networks, and if none bites then that one episode is, well, as "waste of money". IIRC a Wonder Woman series developed by Josh Whedon and starring Adrianne Palicki as WW was one such.

Or sometimes the network likes the premise, but not one particular star, even sometimes the lead, so the pilot is re-shot. Indeed even GoT sort-of went through that, with Daenarys and Catelyn re-cast.