George R. R. Martin, acclaimed author of the popular A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels — which are best known for inspiring the recently-concluded HBO hit, Game of Thrones — has just revealed some previously unheard details about one of the show’s upcoming prequel series.
During an extensive interview with Entertainment Weekly (EW) posted on Tuesday, Martin, 70, wasn’t afraid to go in-depth on the Jane Goldman-directed project.
Goodman, 49, was green-lit for the project by HBO in mid-2018. She’s best known as the screenwriter for films like Kick-Ass (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011) and various others.
What we already know about the series is that it will be set around 5,000 years before the events Game of Thrones took place. This era is also be known as “The Golden Age of Heroes,” according to Variety.
On this, Martin told EW that rather than focusing on the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, which many fans grew to learn and love, they’ve gone back far enough in this installment that there will be around 100 kingdoms still standing in the fictional land.
The author also suggested that the ruthless Lannister family would be absent from this series. “The Lannisters aren’t there yet,” he said, “but Castlery Rock is certainly there; it’s like the Rock of Gibraltar.”
In Game of Thrones, Casterly Rock is the ancestral stronghold of the Lannister family, which includes starring characters and siblings Tyrion, Jaime and Cersei Lannister. However, in this iteration, the castle hasn’t been claimed by the powerful family just yet, according to Martin.
“It’s actually occupied by the Casterlys,” he told EW, “for whom it’s still named after in the time of Game of Thrones.”
It’s unclear if the Lannisters will be introduced in the show and take over Casterly Rock, however, Martin additionally revealed that the Stark family will “definitely be there.”
While Martin made no mention of dragons, he confirmed that some other fan-favourite creatures would be making a return.
“Obviously the White Walkers are here,” he said, “or as they’re called in my books, The Others — and that will be an aspect of it. There are things like direwolves and mammoths,” he added.
As revealed by HBO, Naomi Watts, Naomi Ackie, and Denise Gough will all play roles in the upcoming series, with no details regarding their characters yet.
Martin added that, much like Game of Thrones, there will be no “lead” characters, but rather “an ensemble.”
“We don’t have leads so much as a large ensemble cast,” he admitted. “I think that will be true for this show too.”
On the title of the show, Martin supposedly hoped it would be called The Long Night, adding, “I heard a suggestion that it could be called The Longest Night, which is a variant I wouldn’t mind.”
Unfortunately for fans of Martin’s novels, the writer gave no major updates on the sixth A Song of Ice and Fire installment: The Winds of Winter. He did, however, confirm to EW that it was the only book he is currently working on.
It was revealed back in May, following the highly-anticipated series finale, that Game of Thrones will not be getting any sequels or spinoffs at all.
When asked if the Arya Stark (portrayed by Maisie Williams) story arc would continue in another series, Casey Bloys, HBO’s president of programming, shot down all possibilities of not only Arya getting her own series but every character in the Game of Thrones world.
“Nope, nope, nope,” Bloys told the Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. “No.”
“Part of it is that I want Game of Thrones to be its own thing,” said Bloys. “I don’t want to take characters from this world that (showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff) did beautifully and put them off into another world with someone else creating it.”
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As of this writing, it’s unclear when the currently untitled Game of Thrones sequel series will air.
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