A month after the conclusion of the divisive eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, HBO is readying its return to Westeros, as production is now officially underway on the as-yet-untitled spinoff prequel series.
Created by Jane Goldman (X-Men: First Class) and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin (the latter of whom has referred to it under the working title of The Long Night), the pilot takes place thousands of years before Game of Thrones. It promises to “chronicle 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.”
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The pilot is shooting in Northern Ireland under director S.J. Clarkson (Jessica Jones) and features a cast that includes Naomi Watts (Gypsy), Josh Whitehouse (Poldark), Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth), Denise Gough (Colette), Jamie Campbell Bower (Camelot), Shella Atim (Harlots), Ivanno Jeremiah (Black Mirror), Georgie Henley (The Spanish Princess), Alex Sharp (How to Talk to Girls at Parties), Toby Regbo (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald), and Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter).
