Michael Lombardo, the Man Behind Bringing Thrones to HBO, To Exit Network in 2017

Michael Lombardo, the man who was instrumental to the last decade of HBO’s success, including having the foresight to bring Game of Thrones to the network, will be leaving the company at the end of the year. He has been president of programming for HBO since 2007.

According to MarketWatch, Lombardo said he is finalizing a new production venture affiliated with the Time Warner Inc. unit. His exit will leave HBO is a bit of a bind, since Lombardo was the man who revitalized the network after The Sopranos and Sex and the City ended. There has been increasingly loud speculation from those who follow the business of television that HBO has been unable to diversify their audience, and are increasingly dependent on Game of Thrones, which only has two partial seasons left, at best, after this year.

According to an interview with the Wall Street Journal, however, Lombardo said he and HBO Chief Executive Richard Plepler have been discussing his departure for the better part of the year now, and that his moving on to start a brand new venture has been known for some time. (Article is sadly paywalled.) MarketWatch says that internal moves have been made in order to prepare for this transition. “Lombardo has made some moves in reshaping HBO’s programming team in anticipation of his departure. While no successor has been named, earlier this year Casey Bloys was promoted to president of series, late-night and specials for HBO. He previously had overseen the network’s comedy efforts.”

For those who wonder how this will affect Game of Thrones final two seasons (or one divided season), chances are not much, as no one will want to mess with the successful program. However, it does put in doubt the chance of prequels, sequels or spin offs. Perhaps Lombardo will consider bringing a spin off to his new production venture? Time will tell.