Game of Thrones Prequel Series Gets Pilot Order

HBO announced a new spinoff series for its hit fantasy show Game of Thrones last Friday. The show, which was given a pilot order by the network, will be a prequel and will be set thousands of years before the events of the original show. The show promises to chronicle the darkest hour of the fantasy kingdom of Westeros, with many questions raised in the original show being explored in the new series. In a brief description that came with news of the pilot’s pickup, the network revealed several story lines for the potential series, including the true origins of the White Walkers and introduce some of the legendary members of House Stark.

Jane Goldman, who wrote the screenplay for X-Men: First Class, will serve as showrunner and executive producer for the series. George R.R. Martin, who wrote the novel series A Song of Ice and Fire which Game of Thrones is based on, will also work on the show as an executive producer. Last May, HBO announced that it was commissioning five writers to work on shows that would explore different time periods in the Game of Thrones universe. Among the writers HBO employed were Goldman, Carly Wray of Mad Men, and Max Borenstein, writer of 2014’s Godzilla. While Goldman’s idea ended up being the first to get a pilot pickup, HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys stresses that it is committed to producing the highest quality series for its audience, and that other shows in the Game of Thrones universe would only go into production if they meet the network’s standards.

Should the pilot get a full series order, Bloys stresses that it will not air until 2020 at the earliest. The reasoning behind this decision is that the network does not want to do anything that might eclipse the final season of the original Game of Thrones. Speaking to TVLine, Bloys said that the prequel shows need to stand on their own and the network wanted some separation between the original series and any possible spinoffs. Game of Thrones is set to premiere its eighth and final season in 2019.