As Game of Thrones prepared for its final season on HBO, it seemed as though the franchise would be a staple of the premium network for years to come, as there were reports of several different spinoffs in various stages of development. More than a year later, things look a lot different. Nearly all of those spinoffs were axed, including a series that had already shot a pilot. Now, the only Game of Thrones project still in the works is the House of the Dragon prequel series.
After passing on multiple projects, and seeing the overall reception to the final season of Game of Thrones, it may seem to some fans that HBO isn’t as high on the franchise as it used to be, and that House of the Dragon might be the only additional story we get to see. Fortunately, that’s not the case. Casey Bloys, the head of programming for HBO, made it clear that there will always be opportunities for Game of Thrones.
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During Variety’s virtual FYC event, Bloys was asked about the staying power of Game of Thrones, and whether or not the franchise could ever reach the size and sustainability of Marvel or Star Wars. While Bloys wasn’t ready to make that kind of comparison, he explained that Game of Thrones is a rich world full of possibilities.
“Those are fantastic properties that are decades and decades old,” Bloys said. “I don’t know that it would get that big, but certainly it is a great resource that we have and an amazing world. So I don’t think it’s just going to be the one [show] for the rest of its life.”
There’s no telling what those future projects could be, but House of the Dragon remains the focus at the moment. The series takes place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, and tells the story of House Targaryen.
With the expanding release slate on the HBO Max streaming service, which now includes all of Warner’s 2021 theatrical release slate, some have wondered if a show like House of the Dragon could move from the traditional network to the streaming service. At this point, according to Bloys, that’s not the plan.
“It is an HBO show. What that means in ’22, could there be some sort of sneak or something? I mean, who knows?” he said. “Like I said before, we were talking Euphoria, which we released early on Max the weekend before its linear premier. Who knows? I mean, ’22 seems so long away and so far out, so we’ll see. We’ll see how it goes. I just want to get shooting first.”
Are you looking forward to HBO’s House of the Dragon? What other Game of Thrones spinoffs would you like to see? Let us know in the comments!
