HBO has made it official that none of the current characters from Game of Thrones will be featured in any of its five potential spin-offs.
The pay channel is working with A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin and five different sets of writers — including Game of Thrones veteran Bryan Cogman — on stories set before the events of the Emmy-winning series.
That restriction alone would make it difficult for there to be much crossover with Game of Thrones, and now HBO president Casey Bloys has told TVLine these spin-offs won't involve Jon Snow, Dany or anyone else we've already seen from the World of Westeros.
However, the HBO executive did tease that "there may be [familiar] bloodlines" linking these new prequel stories to what we've already seen in Game of Thrones.
The network isn't yet moving forward with a pilot for any of Martin's prequels, but Bloys made it clear at the TCA press tour that he's been very impressed with the development process thus far.
"Should we go forward and make a pilot and [then] a series, nothing would air on HBO until at least a year after Game of Thrones ends," he added.
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(Casey Bloys)
"We want the final season of Game of Thrones, being the special event that it is… We don't want to use it to launch [a new series]. We want some separation there."
For those doing the math, Game of Thrones' eighth and final season was recently announced for 2019 — so that means none of these prequels will hit screens until at least two years from now.
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
