Author George R.R. Martin spilled a few more details about the upcoming ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel that will take place years before the current series…
The anticipation for the new ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel is already starting to build after a couple of casting announcements including multi-time Oscar nominated actress Naomi Watts joined the show as one of the lead stars.
The prequel is rumored to be called ‘Game of Thrones: The Long Night’ is expected to take place thousands of years before the current series at a time when the known world was cast into darkness and the White Walkers first arrived in an attempt to conquer mankind.
Martin references the time period called ‘The Long Night’ in his book series ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, which is the basis for ‘Game of Thrones’ and there are a few more details in the encyclopedia titled ‘A World of Ice and Fire’ but the entire story has never been fleshed out before.
In fact, Martin teases that the new series will allow him to really tell the story for the first time because the legends he talks about in his books are just that — rumors and stories that have been passed down for generations but no one really knows exactly what happened during those dark days in Westeros.
Martin does confirm, however, that the new series will contain no Targaryens or dragons because that family and those great mythical creatures had not yet arrived to Westeros when this particular story was taking place.
“I’m trying to reflect real-life things that a lot of high fantasy doesn’t reflect,” Martin said when revealing that the story probably takes place closer to 5,000 years before ‘Game of Thrones’. “In the Bible, it has people living for hundreds of years and then people added up how long each lived and used that to figure out when events took place. Really? I don’t think so. Now we’re getting more realistic dating now from carbon dating and archeology. But Westeros doesn’t have that. They’re still in the stage of “my grandfather told me and his grandfather told him.” So I think it’s closer to 5,000 years.
“But you’re right. Westeros is a very different place. There’s no King’s Landing. There’s no Iron Throne. There are no Targaryens — Valyria has hardly begun to rise yet with its dragons and the great empire that it built. We’re dealing with a different and older world and hopefully that will be part of the fun of the series. [Prequel showrunner Jane Goldman] is a tremendous talent. She flew into Santa Fe and we spent a week talking about her ideas. She’s going into territory that I haven’t explored very much in the books. I’ve hinted about them. But she’s a major writer, I love her work.”
Those earliest days that are mentioned open the possibility for several major events to take place on the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel including the first mention of the Stark family (one of the oldest houses in Westeros) as well as the building of The Wall, which supposedly took place after ‘The Long Night’ ended.
Obviously if the story is telling ‘The Long Night’ then the White Walkers will play a major role in the story as this was their first conquest to conquer the world and shroud everything in death and darkness.
With casting already underway, production on the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel is expected to start next year with the final season of the original show set to debut in April.
There’s no word on how quickly HBO will attempt to reveal the new prequel after the original series ends but it would seem likely for a 2020 debut date. For now just keep an eye out for more information on this highly anticipated prequel with the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ debuting in April 2019.
H/T: EW
