With the recent announcement of the actors joining the forthcoming “Game of Thrones” prequel series, “House of the Dragon,” we are inching closer to the return of Westeros on HBO. And though there has already been one false-start, with HBO turning down another untitled prequel series that shot a pilot with Naomi Watts, it appears that the premium network isn’t done developing more ‘Thrones’ series.
Speaking to Variety, HBO boss Casey Bloys talked about the upcoming release of “House of the Dragon” and the possibility of more “Game of Thrones” spinoffs in the future. And surprise, surprise, the network isn’t willing to stop with ‘Thrones’ after the release of ‘Dragon.’
When asked if Bloys can see the future of “Game of Thrones” being as expansive as the “Star Wars” or Marvel Cinematic Universe franchises, the executive isn’t ready to commit to that sort of massive cinematic universe, but he does feel like there is room for growth.
“Those are fantastic properties that are decades and decades old,” he said. “I don’t know that it would get that big, but certainly it is a great resource that we have and an amazing world. So I don’t think it’s just going to be the one [show] for the rest of its life.”
Of course, if you’ve been following the developmental process of bringing a “Game of Thrones” spinoff to HBO, you know that the network, at one point, had no fewer than 5 potential shows in the works from a variety of writers and producers. Out of that came the first Naomi Watts-led series that shot a pilot but was not picked up for series. Then, the development of “House of the Dragon” began and seems to be the first new ‘Thrones’ show since the series ended.
As for the immediate future, “House of the Dragon” is, obviously, an HBO series first and foremost, but Bloys isn’t ready to commit to the idea of the show debuting on the network first. Instead, even though it’s too early to know for sure, the executive teases the possibility of an HBO Max debut of ‘Dragon’ before the show hits regular HBO airwaves.
“It is an HBO show,” said Bloys. “What that means in ’22, could there be some sort of sneak or something? I mean, who knows? Like I said before, we were talking ‘Euphoria,’ which we released early on Max the weekend before its linear premiere. Who knows? I mean, ’22 seems so long away and so far out, so we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes. I just want to get shooting first.”
Again, it’s far too early to know for sure, as Bloys said, so we shouldn’t speculate too hard about whether or not ‘Dragon’ will become an HBO Max show or just have early debuts on the streaming service. WarnerMedia has proven the studio isn’t afraid to risk major franchises by debuting projects on the streaming service, so anything is possible.
As of now, all we know is that “House of the Dragon” is coming to HBO sometime in 2022.
