Game of Thrones prequel series pilot ordered by HBO

HBO has finally decided on a potential Game of Thrones prequel series, and as it turns out this one is going to dive thousands of years into the past.

Here’s the logline for this show, which is being written by feature writer Jane Goldman and also executive-produced by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin:

“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’ 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.”

By moving so far into the past, we do think that there is a way in which HBO can skirt around what is the biggest issue with many possible prequels to this show: Is there any reason in which anyone should care as much? Given that Game of Thrones has been set up as an epic story to end all stories, it’s hard to really find a show that brings anywhere near that same level of drama or intrigue to the table. Yet, there are stakes this far in the past, just as there is so much that is still unknown. There are some tremendous opportunities to explore storylines here that are different and even though we know where things end up on Game of Thrones proper, there’s still a small element of mystery here.

New episodes of Game of Thrones are going to be returning to HBO in 2019, and given that this is just a pilot for now, we imagine that this prequel show won’t be ready until we get around to 2020 at the earliest. We don’t think that the network is going to want to overexpose the franchise by ending the original show and then launching the new one weeks later.

Now that we’ve said that, the expectations on this spin-off are largely through the roof since you are discussing here a way to follow up one of the biggest and most-successful series of all time.

What do you think about this particular Game of Thrones prequel idea, and do you think that there is a way it could work? Share below.

Meanwhile, remember to like CarterMatt on Facebook for some other updates and insight when it comes to the show the moment we’ve got them. (Photo: HBO.)