Well, it looks like production on that Game of Thrones prequel series is really heating up now, and not a moment too soon. After all, the hit fantasy show is about to come to an end and HBO needs something to fill the void. Thankfully, they’ve got just that in the form of The Longest Night.
That’s the name being given to the spinoff, which was confirmed by George R.R. Martin himself, who had the following to say this week:
“Casting is now underway for The Long Night, the first of the Game of Thrones successor series to ordered to film.”
Not only has the title been revealed, but as Martin mentions, casting’s underway, too, and just yesterday, we learned that Naomi Watts will star in the show. She’ll be joined by Josh Whitehouse (Poldark), who hopped on board earlier today in another lead role, though details on who exactly he’s playing remain unclear.
Nonetheless, HBO’s been kind enough to offer up the following plot summary, teasing an adventure that takes place long before the events of Thrones:
“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.”
Circling back to the main show, though, and we know that the eighth and final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones is set to make its grand debut at some point in 2019. By then, we’ll surely have a much better idea of what’s in store for us with The Longest Night as well. There’s a wealth of content for the showrunners to explore here, so the sky’s really the limit for the network and we can’t wait to see what they’ve got up their sleeve for us when we enter into a post-Thrones world.
