Like A Song of Ice and Fire before it, the future of George R.R. Martin‘s televised universe could go in many different directions, and it will take a long time to get there. But isn’t that what we want, ultimately, from Game of Thrones? Well, it certainly is for HBO, whose ownership over The Known Realm and its on-screen adaptations is all-important to them, not only now as GoT ends, but as a hope for one of the four or five prequel/spin-off series reportedly in development. So we’re not really surprised at the news that they are taking everything so seriously, and want to do it so right, that the final season of Thrones may not even air until 2019.
I know.
According to Casey Bloys, who spoke about the matter with Entertainment Weekly, it’s a matter of not only ensuring showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have the time they need to see the series through in the way they envision it, but also because, “by the time the final season airs, Dan and David will have been at this for 12 years. … They didn’t go and do movies in between seasons, they didn’t set anything else up, they put everything — and are putting everything — into this show.”
To be sure, that’s A VERY LONG TIME to be working on a single project. No one keeps the same job for that length of time anymore! So it makes sense that the network would want to give them as much time as possible to do what they need to do to honor the story.
How long that will be, it seems, is anyone’s guess, because the final scripts are still being written. Which means: we may not get the final season of Thrones until as late as 2019.
Per the EW conversation:
So as of now, the final season could air in 2018 and/or in 2019 depending on their needs?
“Yeah. They have to write the episodes and figure out the production schedule. We’ll have a better sense of that once they get further into the writing.”
So does that mean the prequel could come first? Not at all. Bloys made a point to address the multiple projects in development and Martin’s writing role in each (in short: it varies based on what the writers want), adding that the first priority is Thrones coming together in a way that honors everyone involved. “The bar is so high,” explained Bloys. “If you only developed one, everything would rest on that one shot. It’s such a special show. I want to make sure that [any prequel] feels worthy. We have some amazing writers who want to take a shot at this. They’re also looking at different times in the universe and all will have different feels. This increases our odds of finding one that’s unique.”
And even though Dave and Dan will not be involved in any of the prequels and their development in order to keep the expectation game low (plus, y’know, they’re probably ready to do something new), Bloys posited that the number of spin-off series in development isn’t a guarantee they’re all going forward, but rather that they can hopefully find one that feels as different, unique, and worthy of following up the original. “I wanted to make sure fans know this is a really embryonic process. … The idea is not to do four shows. The bar set by [Benioff and Weiss] is so high that my hope is to get one show that lives up to it. Also, this is a long-term plan. Our No. 1 goal is the seventh season this summer and getting the eighth season written and aired.” You can read the whole interview by heading over to EW.
What do you think about the development? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: HBO
Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor of Nerdist, Maester-in-residence for all things GoT, creator/host of Fangirling!, and frequent Twitter user.
