HBO Nears Pilot Order for ‘Game Of Thrones’ House Targaryen Prequel From George R.R. Martin & Ryan Condal

According to Deadline, a new prequel of the popular series television Game of Thrones is nearing a green light. The project has purportedly been in the works at HBO since last fall, and the studio is close to giving a pilot order for the prequel series to author and GoT co-executive producer George R.R. Martin and Colony co-creator/exec producer Ryan Condal.

The new series would be set 300 years before the events in Game of Thrones and tracks the beginning of the end for House Targaryen. Created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal, the project is based on the book Fire and Blood by Martin.

The book has recently re-entered the New York Times Top 10 Best Seller List, after having been there previously for more than three months. “You can’t keep a good dragon down,” Martin wrote about the feat.

Named after House Targaryen’s words, Fire & Blood’s first volume was published last November with the tagline, “300 Years Before a Game of Thrones, Dragons Ruled Westeros.” It is essentially a book of Targaryen history, and a companion to Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire saga. It goes back to a time when House Targaryen — the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria — took up residence on Dragonstone.

According to posts on Martin’s blog, he has five different Game of Thrones tie-in shows in the works with HBO, three of which are making solid progress. One of them is an untitled prequel, written by Jane Goldman and starring Naomi Watts, which shot a pilot this summer.

Martin has been talking about his relationship with HBO on his blog, since May, In typical Martin fashion, the author had been dropping clues about the House Targaryen prequel project all along. “We have had five different Game of Thrones successor shows in development at HBO, and three of them are still moving forward nicely,” he wrote on his blog in May.

One of the three is a prequel written by Jane Goldman and starring Naomi Watts, chronicaling the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. The pilot was shot this summer (Deadline says it’s untitled, but it isn’t – it’s called The Long Night, as SCIFI.radio reported last November). It is now in post-production, awaiting word on whether it will get a pickup.

Fire & Blood starts off with Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold the throne, all the way up to the civil war, known as the Dance of the Dragons, that nearly tore their dynasty apart.

Game of Thrones landed an amazing 32 Emmy nominations for its final season, breaking the record, for most nominations in a single year. The show, a three-time Outstanding Drama Series Emmy winner, also holds the Emmy record for most overall wins, 47 and counting, most wins in a single year, 12, and most total nominations for a scripted series, 161. 45 million people tuned in for its final episodes.

Condal and Martin have long-standing relationship. In 2016, Martin’s theatre in Santa Fe, Jean Cocteau Cinema, hosted a screening of Colony, followed by a conversation between Martin and Condal.

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SCIFI Radio Staff

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