The hills are alive with the sound of petitions. A couple of days ago, we reported on a petition from one fan who wants to convince HBO to show Game of Thrones episodes on IMAX screens again (yes, please). But that’s not the only one out there. Fan Jessie Rae has a petition on Change.org to convince the network to make a Game of Thrones prequel series.
As Rae points out, the invented history of Game of Thrones is rife with detail, and there are plenty of thing that a potential prequel series could explore. To name a few, you’ve got Aegon’s Conquest of Westeros; the Dawn Age, where the First Men fought the Children of the Forest; the Age of Heroes; the adventures of Dunk and Egg (George R.R. Martin has endorsed this one); and Robert Baratheon’s rebellion against the Mad King Aerys. Personally, I’m all for a series exploring the Dance of the Dragons, a Targaryen civil war that ended many years before the events of Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones showrunners have long been ambivalent about the possibility of spinoffs or prequel series. Their latest word on the topic came just the other day, when they appeared on the UFC Unfiltered podcast with hosts Jim Norton and Matt Serra. They acknowledged that there’s certainly material enough for a prequel series, but said that they have much time to develop ideas, since making Game of Thrones is pretty much a 24/7 job.
Thus far, Rae’s petition is doing very well. It’s only been up for a couple of weeks, but has already collected well in excess of 3,000 signatures. Will it be enough to convince HBO to make a prequel series after Game of Thrones is over? Surely the network wants to keep the series alive in some way, so it couldn’t hurt. Sign the petition here.