As “Game of Thrones” is headed into its endgame with its final two seasons, the good people at HBO have been looking for new ways to milk the Westeros cash cow, and it’s looking like they’ll be headed down the same avenue that AMC took with their “Breaking Bad” and “Walking Dead” cash cows: the spinoff.
HBO head initially quashed hope for spinoffs
Originally when asked about the prospect of a “Game of Thrones” spinoff series, Michael Lombardo, HBO’s president of programming, quite simply said, “No,” elaborating that it would ultimately be the decision of “GoT” showrunners David Benioff and D.
B. Weiss “really feeling something,” or George R. R. Martin, author of the still-incomplete “A Song of Ice and Fire” (the series of novels the show is based on for all you noobs), “really feeling that it was the right thing to do.”
Lombardo then said, “Not knowing how this particular story ends, I don’t know,” and stated that “we are not going to do that unless we feel their passion.” So, it seemed that Lombardo’s main priority was the creative integrity of the team behind the show and not the money a spinoff would generate, and he appeared to completely eradicate any “Game of Thrones” fan’s hope that they could stay immersed in the world of Westeros a few years long.
However, exec shakeup means spinoff still possibility
Lombardo has since left the company, and his job has been taken by Casey Bloys, and Casey Bloys is slightly more enthused by the idea. Bloys recently said, “It’s something I’m not opposed to.” He maintained Lombardo’s condition that “it has to make sense creatively,” but made it clear that he is “open to it.” Martin let it slip that he’s been having meetings with HBO about potential spinoffs.
He stresses that nothing is set in stone as of yet, but the very fact these meetings are taking place suggests that the spinoffs will be happening eventually. It has also been stipulated that no spinoff will be made until “GoT” is over and done with. Benioff and Weiss have said that, while the decision of whether to make a spinoff is HBO’s call, they will not be involved either way as their time in Westeros begins and ends with the core “Game of Thrones” saga.
What might a 'Game of Thrones' spinoff be about?
As for what a “Game of Thrones” spinoff series might entail, there are a number of paths it could take. There are decades of backstory to be mined from Martin’s fictional universe, so a prequel would make a lot of sense. For example, ever wondered why Jaime Lannister is nicknamed Kingslayer? He betrayed his oath to protect the Mad King (who happened to be Daenerys’ father) by killing him in order to save the Kingdom. There’s a series there, or at the very least a miniseries, according to Cinema Blend.
There are also a series of novellas set in the “Game of Thrones” world entitled “Dunk & Egg,” which Martin seems keen on adapting for Television, telling Entertainment Weekly that each one “could easily be done as a two-hour stand-alone movie for television.” He says these Books are “lighter” and “more in the realm of action-adventure.”
Season 7 still a while off
For now, the return of the actual “Game of Thrones” is quite a while off, since winter has finally come and so they can’t film in the summer anymore.
Fans have waited for it for so long and now it’s here, it’s come to bite them. How ironic. That’s probably why there’s all this talk of spinoffs, because everyone’s getting bored waiting for it to come back.
