Although Game of Thrones will come to an end next year with its eighth and final season, HBO is currently deep in pre-production on a pilot for a spinoff prequel, tentatively titled The Long Night, which is set to take place thousands of years prior to the flagship series.
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly to discuss his new A Song of Ice and Fire book Fire and Blood, author George R.R. Martin – who has co-written the pilot with Jane Goldman (Kingsman, The Woman in Black) – has offered up a few words on the spinoff, and where it fits into the history of Westeros.
“Westeros is a very different place,” said Martin, explaining that the prequel takes place approximately 5000 years before Game of Thrones. “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.”
The official logline for the potential series states that it will 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’ 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.”
SEE ALSO: Game of Thrones’ eighth and final season gets April 2019 premiere date
Casting is currently underway on the pilot, with Naomi Watts (Gypsy) and Josh Whitehouse (Poldark) both having signed on to star in as-yet-unrevealed roles.
