HBO only expects to make one of the Game of Thrones prequel series currently in development

By now, most everyone has heard of the multiple Game of Thrones prequel series HBO is developing for after the current show ends. Network programming president Casey Bloys sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to clarify some details and give fans a better idea of what to expect down the line.

And to confirm, the series — however many there end up being — will be coming down the line sooner rather than later. Bloys vehemently denied that anything will make it to air before Game of Thrones season 8 shows up on our TV screens.

As for when exactly season 8 will air, Bloys was noncommittal, not confirming whether it would be in 2018 or 2019. “All I will tell you is it is obviously a very ambitious season,” he said. “This is the culmination of eight seasons of fantastic storytelling. [Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] are writing, and they need to look at the production schedule, and we will take their lead in terms of the airdate that works best for them.”

"They don’t even know; they are still putting the season together. And as you can imagine, it’s a very complicated show to produce, so it’s not like putting together a production schedule for a sitcom that shoots on the stage. It shoots all over the world and takes a long time to figure out where, when and how to shoot. So they’re in the process of doing that, and they’ll let us know."

Whenever it comes out, Bloys shot down rumors that the final six episodes could be shown in theaters or on IMAX as opposed to on HBO. “This is for subscribers.”

When and if we do see a prequel, Benioff and Weiss won’t be involved, preferring to watch the new show as fans after spending 13 years making the first one, although they’ll be entitled to a producer credit “out of respect” if they want one.

And Bloys wants us to understand that it’s possible there could be no prequel, although it sounds like he’d be surprised if at least one of the four shows in development didn’t pan out. After all, as he points out, Game of Thrones has been a huge success for HBO, and considering how rich the mythology is, “[i]t would be insane for a network not to at least entertain the idea of a successor shows.”

"This franchise is really rich and very exciting…So the idea was, if we’re going to try it, let’s take a couple of shots and see. My hope is at least one lives up to the level of quality Benioff and Weiss have set. But again, it’s also very early in the process. I haven’t even seen an outline for them. The priority here is obviously season seven and then season eight…We mentioned the spin-offs because obviously there’s a lot of interest in them, but it’s a very embryonic process, and you know how development goes — it can be a long process. We confirmed their existence because there was a lot of interest, but it’s not something that we are fast-tracking to get done to air immediately after the final season. I’m guessing fans will need some time to decompress from how amazing the final season is."

And even if one or more prequels do see the light of day, Bloys isn’t interested in running the franchise into the ground. “This show is very special,” he said. “I’m not looking to have as many as possible. My sense right now is we would be very lucky if one of the four rises to the level that we have set. Now, theoretically, what if they’re all great? That’s a high-class problem that I’ll solve when it comes to that…But I do not see a scenario where we have more than one.”

This is in opposition to the strategy employed by a network like AMC, which currently has a show set in the The Walking Dead universe on the air pretty much year-round. “I want to be mindful of overdoing it,” Bloys said. “I look at this universe as very precious resource. I do not want to overexploit it.”

Bloys also weighed in on a couple of ambiguities that have been hanging around the prequel projects for a while. For example, while the original announcement said there were four shows in development, George R.R. Martin later said that there were actually five, and that he was personally involved with all of them. Bloys poured some cold water on those reports, saying that, so far as he knows, “I have a deal for four spinoffs right now with four writers.” He also said that Martin is “co-writing” only two of those projects.

Just how involved will Martin be with the series? “A lot of it will depend on how much George is engaged and how he clicks with writers and how much the writers want to bring him into the process,” Bloys said. “That will vary project by project. But he’s a fantastic resource. Nobody knows the universe better than the one who created it.”

Next: George R.R. Martin won’t write any more TV episodes until The Winds of Winter is finished

As a final confirmation, Bloys said that he doubts any of the prequels will connect directly to the main show, i.e. don’t expect any of them to lead up to the beginning of Game of Thrones in the way Better Call Saul, for example, leads up to the beginning of Breaking Bad. We’re talking shows set far in the past, featuring none of the current actors.

It’ll be interesting to see how these projects develop. Until then, there’s always Game of Thrones season 7, which debuts this Sunday.