It’s been almost two years since Game of Thrones started its divisive final season, and now HBO is gearing up to shoot a prequel series entitled House of the Dragon.
As Deadline reports, HBO and HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys offered up a few tantilizing details about the future of George R.R. Martin’s world onscreen. Developed by Martin, Ryan Condal, and Miguel Sapochnik, the show is scheduled to start production in April. “That’s all moving ahead and we are excited about that,” said Bloys of House of the Dragon, which received a straight-to-series order.
The show is just one of the five prequel ideas HBO explored as Game of Thrones came to an end. One resulted in a pilot starring Naomi Watts that didn’t get picked up, while another focused on Martin’s Tales of Dunk & Egg novellas set in the same world. The latter of the two is currently in development, and is part of HBO’s plan to have multiple GoT shows on the air at the same time. That’s not even mentioning the rumored animated series, too.
"In terms of the right number, I’d say the number is the shows that are good,” Bloys said, not confirming how many GoT projects there could be. “I'd rather get scripts good and make them stories worth telling than shoot for a certain number of shows. I don’t necessary have a number in mind but the goal is always the same which is, let’s get in business with people we believe in and shows that believe in and worry about the rest later." While he highlighted that the prequels have the history outlined by George R.R. Martin for the most part, the premium cable network isn’t against doing a sequel series instead later on.
HBO’s Bloys also told Deadline about the future of other franchises at the network, particularly a fourth entry of True Detective. “It’s safe to say we’re working with a couple of writers to find the right tone and take,” he said, suggesting that new creative forces could work on the Nic Pizzolatto-created series for Season 4. “It’s definitely an area that could be very interesting and I think it would be interesting with a new voice.”
The horizon for Lovecraft Country appears to be bright, too, with showrunner Misha Green working with a “small team of writers” on ideas for where to take the genre-hopping series. “She had a book to go on in the first season, she and the writers wanted to go off and take some time to go out and figure out without a book with these characters, what’s the journey we want to go on,” Bloys told Deadline. “We all want to be sure she’s got a story to tell. That’s where she is right now, working on those ideas. I’m very hopeful, as is Mischa, so we’re giving them the time to work."
There’s also some interest in a Harry Potter spinoff series, although conversations appear to be in the very early stages. More excitingly, Bloys confirmed HBO is absolutely interested in teaming up with I May Destroy You creator and star Michaela Coel in the future. “She is noodling ideas and I hope anything she comes up with, we would be able to participate in,” said Bloys.
The Hollywood Reporter notes those aren’t the only big projects on the way to HBO Max, as the beloved animated series Clone High is set for a two-season reboot, and an adult-oriented Scooby-Doo origin story based on Velma and starring Minday Kaling is on the way. Pete Davidson will also star in a workplace animated comedy entitled Fired on Mars, joining an ever-increasing adult animation slate that will include Hello Paul, Obi, Uncanny Valley, and Cover.
