It was canceled in a storm of fire and blood — and, apparently, a lot of money.
HBO’s axed “Game of Thrones” spinoff series, which was set to star Naomi Watts, spent a hefty $30 million making one episode, according to former WarnerMedia chairman Bob Greenblatt.
“They had spent over $30 million on a ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel pilot that was in production when I got there,” Greenblatt tells James Andrew Miller in the journalist’s new oral history of HBO, “Tinderbox.”
“And when I saw a cut of [the pilot] a few months after I arrived, I said to [HBO head of content Casey Bloys], ‘This just doesn’t work and I don’t think it delivers on the promise of the original series.’ And he didn’t disagree, which actually was a relief.”
The proposed series was from Jane Goldman, who wrote the “Kingsman” film series, and was to take place thousands of years before the events of “GOT.” Following Stark and Lannister ancestors, the show would be focused on the lore of the world such as the true origins of the White Walkers, the mysteries to the East, and the world’s descent from the Golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour.
Rumored to be called “The Long Night,” the show was given the green light in June 2018. The series was scrapped in October 2019 after producing only the costly pilot.
“We unfortunately decided to pull the plug on it,” Greenblatt says in the book. “There was enormous pressure to get it right and I don’t think that would have worked.”
You would think they’d have made sure the show worked before spending $30 million on it.
So far, the “Game of Thrones” spinoffs that are currently in the works are a Targaryen-centric prequel series called “House of the Dragon” starring Matt Smith and coming in 2022, and a spinoff based on George R.R. Martin’s prequel novella series “Tales of Dunk and Egg.”
There’s also a “Game of Thrones” Broadway play in the works about the Great Tourney at Harrenhal, set 16 years before the events of the original show, expected in 2023.