Of the five Game of Thrones pitches submitted to HBO late last year, one has received a pilot order, three are still in “active development,” and the fifth and final prequel sequel has been quietly scrapped.
That’s the latest from George R.R. Martin himself, creative mastermind of the legendary Song of Ice and Fire and long-time producer on HBO’s Thrones series. It’s one that is now on the verge of its series finale, what with season 8 scheduled to air in April of 2019.
And when it does, HBO will begin to fast-track its plans for a successor series, beginning with the one drafted up by Kingsman scribe Jane Goldman. Turns out there’s still hope for the other three, as Martin is confident that HBO will green light “at least one more pilot” from the pool of remaining scripts. And the fifth? It’s been canned.
Three more Game of Thrones prequels, set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, remain in active development. Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come. We do have an entire world and tens of thousands of years of history to play with, after all. But this is television, so nothing is certain.
Those other screenplays are currently in the works from Max Borenstein, Brian Helgeland, Cary Wray, and Bryan Cogman, though it’s unclear if they’ll see the warm light of day. Hell, HBO is keeping mum about the entire ordeal, so we imagine all pitches are in various stages of consideration as the Powers That Be weigh up the franchise’s next steps.
On the literary front, meanwhile, George R.R. Martin is still hammering away at the keys to craft The Winds of Winter, with the author saying:
Work on Winds of Winter continues, and remains my top priority. It is ridiculous to think otherwise. If I wasn’t busy with Winds, don’t you think I’d be scripting one or more of these pilots myself? It’s not as if I’ve never written for TV…
Look for the eighth and final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones to air April 2019.
