TV: Game of Thrones prequel pilot ordered

[Gee Wally]

Game of Thrones prequel pilot ordered by HBO: 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. 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.”

According to Martin’s books, the Age of Heroes began 10,000 years before the events in GoT. Some of the major names which could be characters in the new show include Bran the Builder (who founded House Stark, and oversaw construction of The Wall and Winterfell) and Lann the Clever (who founded House Lannister). The era led into the Long Night — a winter that lasted a generation — and the greatest war against the white walkers. Then again, that’s what we think we know, and the logline for the new show says this is “not the story we think we know.”

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[The Crypto Guy]

(HBO)

 

[Teemu]

RIP Winds of Winter

 

[RandV]

At first when I saw the thread title saying "prequel" I thought it was talking about Robert's Rebellion and was kind of meh about it. I mean that would be cool still but we know so much about it and I thought they said they weren't going to do that.

But going all the way back to the age of heroes?
At first when I saw the thread title saying "prequel" I thought it was talking about Robert's Rebellion and was kind of meh about it. I mean that would be cool still but we know so much about it and I thought they said they weren't going to do that.

But going all the way back to the age of heroes?
At first when I saw the thread title saying "prequel" I thought it was talking about Robert's Rebellion and was kind of meh about it. I mean that would be cool still but we know so much about it and I thought they said they weren't going to do that.

But going all the way back to the age of heroes?

(HBO)

Pretty much

 

[Tuggy]

 

[NyQuil]

At first when I saw the thread title saying "prequel" I thought it was talking about Robert's Rebellion and was kind of meh about it. I mean that would be cool still but we know so much about it and I thought they said they weren't going to do that.

But going all the way back to the age of heroes?

The nice thing about it from HBO's perspective is that they have even less of the source material to rely upon it.

 

[glovesave_35]

I was going to be in no matter what. This sounds like just the right way to go about it. Go way way back so nothing is connected to any character in Game of Thrones except for the legends and history they speak of. If they do it right, which I expect them to, it's going to be awesome.

 

[Blender]

This is always the smart way if you're going to do a prequel, set it back far enough that you can create your story however you want without having to force your characters and story into little boxes just to line up with established canon.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Not sold on this idea to be honest

 

[glovesave_35]

Not sold on this idea to be honest

What would be better in your opinion?

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

10,000 years in past is absurd to be honest

Think of where mankind was 10,000 years ago in our development

I don't see how you can build a credible series in what should essentially be cave people era

They should have just made prequel series about the mad kings descent into madness and how he kicked off Robert's Rebellion , etc

 

[Siamese Dream]

What would be better in your opinion?

For the first one they should do Aegon's conquest or the dance of the dragons. The biggest draws of Game of Thrones are the dragons and the political intrigue so they should keep those themes running and it will be more appealing to the wider audience. I don't really see how they can make this very interesting and I feel like a lot of the casual fans will get bored and the momentum of Game of Thrones will fizzle out. Going with this theme would also be a bit repetitive since it appears to be about the long night, the first thing right after Season 8 which is essentially going to be the same thing. I'm not that opposed to the concept as a whole I just don't think it should be the first one they do.

 

[glovesave_35]

For the first one they should do Aegon's conquest or the dance of the dragons. The biggest draws of Game of Thrones are the dragons and the political intrigue so they should keep those themes running and it will be more appealing to the wider audience. I don't really see how they can make this very interesting and I feel like a lot of the casual fans will get bored and the momentum of Game of Thrones will fizzle out. Going with this theme would also be a bit repetitive since it appears to be about the long night, the first thing right after Season 8 which is essentially going to be the same thing. I'm not that opposed to the concept as a whole I just don't think it should be the first one they do.

Fair enough. I agree with you. I will wait and see how it plays out. It sounds like they went with a period that allows for a good bit of creativity, which I like. I do hope they do something set in Old Valyria at its height.

Following up anything like GOT is a challenge but I think if they take their time and make it as rich as GOT it will be solid.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Fair enough. I agree with you. I will wait and see how it plays out. It sounds like they went with a period that allows for a good bit of creativity, which I like. I do hope they do something set in Old Valyria at its height.

Following up anything like GOT is a challenge but I think if they take their time and make it as rich as GOT it will be solid.

I do think they should do a Valyria one as well, at least one of the prequels should be set in Essos I think.

Did they say they're going to do a total of 4 or 5? My preferences would be:

- Doom of Valyria
- Aegon's conquest
- Dance of the Dragons
- Blackfyre Rebellion
- Robert's Rebellion

I would love to see Dunk and Egg but we already know that isn't going to happen because GRRM still wants to write more of those novellas.

 

[glovesave_35]

I do think they should do a Valyria one as well, at least one of the prequels should be set in Essos I think.

Did they say they're going to do a total of 4 or 5? My preferences would be:

- Doom of Valyria
- Aegon's conquest
- Dance of the Dragons
- Blackfyre Rebellion
- Robert's Rebellion

I would love to see Dunk and Egg but we already know that isn't going to happen because GRRM still wants to write more of those novellas.

The way I understand it, HBO commissioned 4-5 treatments and they are culling those for what they most want to produce. This one appears to have come out on top in this competition.

I do wonder how much different the overall feel and execution of whatever they make will be due to the show-runners from GOT abdicating their roles to move on. From a professional POV I get it. They want to branch out and do other things. But they did this one thing really, really well. I hope whoever does anything from the G.R.R. Martin world lives up to it.

Btw I agree with wanting to see Aegon's Conquest. That would be badass. From a long term perspective in terms of making TV, I think that may happen but going way back in time first makes sense. They're going back basically as far as they can. Then we will probably get some stuff from different periods between GOT and this new show from the oooold days.

 

[RandV]

For the first one they should do Aegon's conquest or the dance of the dragons. The biggest draws of Game of Thrones are the dragons and the political intrigue so they should keep those themes running and it will be more appealing to the wider audience. I don't really see how they can make this very interesting and I feel like a lot of the casual fans will get bored and the momentum of Game of Thrones will fizzle out. Going with this theme would also be a bit repetitive since it appears to be about the long night, the first thing right after Season 8 which is essentially going to be the same thing. I'm not that opposed to the concept as a whole I just don't think it should be the first one they do.

I'd add the distinction that the concept is great for people that are into fantasy fiction, which is totally where I fall in. But for portion of the audience who got into GoT because of the 'Soprano's in Middle Earth' thing, or just because it focuses more on political intrigue and the like, it's probably not going to sound as good.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

10,000 years in past is absurd to be honest

Think of where mankind was 10,000 years ago in our development

I don't see how you can build a credible series in what should essentially be cave people era

They should have just made prequel series about the mad kings descent into madness and how he kicked off Robert's Rebellion , etc

Well, a static medieval technology level has been a bit of the norm for a lot of fantasy series, like Lord of the Rings, Elder Scrolls, and Legend of Zelda, so I guess this could be the same thing where this franchise is stuck technologically in the mud as well for a prolonged period as part of their canon. Just because that was the difference between prehistory and fairly advanced civilizations in reality doesn't meant that fantasy settings are necessarily beholden to that, especially if they're attempting to harken back to a longlost golden age.

 

[RandV]

10,000 years in past is absurd to be honest

Think of where mankind was 10,000 years ago in our development

I don't see how you can build a credible series in what should essentially be cave people era

They should have just made prequel series about the mad kings descent into madness and how he kicked off Robert's Rebellion , etc

First off, keep in mind this isn't necessarily on HBO but rather it's the world and background GRRM created... and that's actually one of my big complaints against his work.

While I absolute love the series (my #1 favourite book series, though with the delays recently dropped to #2) and with the detail George put into the medieval world you'd think he has a Masters Degree on the subject or something. But his concept of time is like you said, "absurd".

Usually in fiction these big bad apocalyptic world events happened 1000-2000 years ago. And indeed more relevant to the current story the doom of Valyria was something like 500 years ago and Aegon's conquest 300 years. But to have not just history but also family tree's (Stark, Lanister), castles (Winterfell), and orders (Nights Watch) that go back almost 10,000 years? That's kind of hard to believe.

I mean it's not going to effect my enjoyment at all, just saying it's a legit criticism here.

 

[Osprey]

10,000 years in past is absurd to be honest

Think of where mankind was 10,000 years ago in our development

It's not going to be set 10,000 years in the past. That's when the Age of Heroes began and this series sounds like it's going to be about the decline and end of that age. I'm not familiar with the timeline, but my guess is that that age lasted for most of that time and ended just a few thousand years before the events of GoT, so we're talking about only a few thousand years in the past.

If you must compare to Earth's civilization, ignore the last 1000 years of rapid development and note how relatively little changed between 2000 B.C. and 0 A.D. or from 1000 B.C. to 1000 A.D. Based on that, it's not a stretch to imagine that a GoT prequel set 2000 years before might not look all that different.

Regardless, I don't think that it should be compared to Earth's civilization at all. It's a complete fantasy world and doesn't have to abide by the development pace of the real world. It's like how people in 3rd-world countries don't have to abide by the progress made in 1st-world countries. Bush people in Africa or the Amazon, for example, still largely live the same way that they did thousands of years ago, if not ten thousand years ago. Civilization development isn't unavoidable like how a human develops from a baby to a child to an adult. If there's a lack of interest in improving society, a society can stagnate practically indefinitely.

 

[Blender]

It's not going to be set 10,000 years in the past. That's when the Age of Heroes began and this series sounds like it's going to be about the decline and end of that age. I'm not familiar with the timeline, but my guess is that that age lasted for most of that time and ended just a few thousand years before the events of GoT, so we're talking about only a few thousand years in the past.

If you must compare to Earth's civilization, ignore the last 1000 years of rapid development and note how relatively little changed between 2000 B.C. and 0 A.D. or from 1000 B.C. to 1000 A.D. Based on that, it's not a stretch to imagine that a GoT prequel set 2000 years before might not look all that different.

Regardless, I don't think that it should be compared to Earth's civilization at all. It's a complete fantasy world and doesn't have to abide by the development pace of the real world. It's like how people in 3rd-world countries don't have to abide by the progress made in 1st-world countries. Bush people in Africa or the Amazon, for example, still largely live the same way that they did thousands of years ago, if not ten thousand years ago. Civilization development isn't unavoidable like how a human develops from a baby to a child to an adult. If there's a lack of interest in improving society, a society can stagnate practically indefinitely.

It's a pretty common misconception that civilization has always progressed as well, there have been ups and downs over our history.

 

[Osprey]

It's a pretty common misconception that civilization has always progressed as well, there have been ups and downs over our history.

Right. In one of the examples that I gave, 1000 B.C. to 1000 A.D., European civilization actually did improve a good bit between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D., thanks to the Roman Empire, but it largely got erased by the Dark Ages that followed, from 500 A.D. to 1000 AD. Thanks to that, civilization in 1000 A.D. wasn't all that much better than it was before the Roman Empire came along 1500 years earlier and a lot of advancements (ex. in plumbing, tunneling, warfare and medicine) needed to be re-invented. I think that the Age of Heroes is supposed to be like the era of the Roman Empire and the period of a few thousand years between this prequel and GoT is supposed to be like the Dark Ages. It's conceivable that the time of the prequel could look very similar to that of GoT and that the world descended into anarchy and tribalism between the two before starting to crawl out of it just prior to GoT.

 

[Siamese Dream]

It's subtly hinted to in the books that all the stuff about the Age of Heroes and the ancient lore is actually all "old nan's tales" and unreliable history passed down by word of mouth, and that the Maesters are sceptical as to either if it actually happened or it happened a lot more recently than everyone thinks.

Think of in the show, Littlefinger's chaos is a ladder speech, about how there aren't actually 1000 blades in the iron throne and the story everyone is told being a lie

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

I have no doubts they will do more GoT series, last I heard they had 3 developed to be pitched and would choose the best one.

It is smart to go back as far as you are going to go first, to make the prequels chronological and if they ever do Roberts Rebellion it will be way down the line where we can accept the difference in actors

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I am super excited for this.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Age of Heros stuff could be awesome. It is a lot more high fantasy potentially then the current show.