HBO programming president Casey Bloys: “We’re not trying to do Game of Thrones Part II”

Earlier today, HBO programming president Casey Bloys sat down in front of a bunch of reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour and dropped juicy info about the timetables for the final season of Game of Thrones and the upcoming prequel series, set during the Age of Heroes, thousands of years before any of the characters we know and love were born. He continued doling out bon mots later in the day when he talked to Entertainment Weekly, paying particular attention to the prequel show(s). Let’s see what he had to say.

Bloys reiterated that the Age of Heroes show still doesn’t have a name, although for convenience’s sake, I’m going to call it The Long Night, George R.R. Martin’s moniker for it. HBO is still looking for a director and is looking to shoot a pilot sometime next year. I was happy to hear Bloys say that the network isn’t trying to redo Game of Thrones with this show, but rather wants to let The Long Night be its own thing:

"The story’s time period, another 8,000 years before [the events in GoT], it’s far enough away so it feels like a different story, a different world, because it is — the kingdoms do not exist at this point. So it felt distinct. We’re not trying to do Game of Thrones Part II. No one is going to duplicate what [GoT showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] did. By setting it when we did, there’s a lot going on, a lot of dynamics that are related to Game of Thrones, but it’s different enough with its time period and characters its duplicative."

Now, The Long Night will undoubtably feel different from its predecessor simply because different people are involved — showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are out, screenwriter Jane Goldman is in, and of course there will be a whole new cast. I’ve worried that the plot outline for The Long Night sounds a wee bit too similar to the one for Game of Thrones, both of which involve warring kingdoms whose conflicts are put into perspective when the White Walkers come calling. (I’m making some assumptions here, but that’s the vibe I get from HBO’s synopsis.) Hopefully Bloys will make good on his claim and The Long Night really will be a new animal.

Bloys also talked about the much-buzzed about Empire of Ash, a second prequel series that purportedly explores the fall of the Valyrian Empire. According to rumor, this idea was the frontrunner for further development alongside The Long Night. Is there a chance a pilot for a second show could be greenlit this year?

"No. The development process was very positive. Other people got busy, things didn’t come together … It’s fair to say we’re excited about this pilot, we’re hoping to shoot it in the first quarter of ’19, I don’t anticipate any movement on any other prequels until we [see what this one is]."

So it sounds like rumors about Empire of Ash were off the mark, assuming it was indeed one of the ideas HBO was working with. Bloys’ comments don’t mean it can never happen, but for now, it sounds like The Long Night is the only prequel show definitively in the works.

Besides The Long Night and Empire of Ash, HBO had three other prequel ideas in development at one point. We don’t know what’s happening with them now.

And of course, EW couldn’t talk to Bloys without getting his input on the final episodes of Game of Thrones. What did he think when he read the scripts?

"I think it’s epic. I think fans are going to love it. I think it’s a fitting way for one of the greatest shows in the history of television to go out and that people are going to be very happy. There’s going to be a lot of conversation."

Undoubtedly.

Here’re a few other highlights:

• EW asked a kind of oddly phrased question about season 8 episode lengths. EW: “[M]y understanding is that all the episodes are likely between 50-90 minutes — it’s not like a season of two-hour episodes, in other words.” Bloys: “Not two-hours? Yes, they are not going to be. Not that I’ve seen, anyway.” So I think that means that not every episode of season 8 will be feature-length, although one or more could be. Also all of them could be 90 minutes. I’m not sure we learned anything new from that.
• Bloys doesn’t know when we’ll see the first trailer for season 8, nor does he know if they’ll be additional Game of Thrones IMAX screenings. “It ends up being a marketing discussion. My feeling is anything we do with Game of Thrones is that our subscribers should be the first to see it.”
• He’s not sure, but Bloys excepts that The Long Night will follow in the footsteps of its big brother and shoot in Belfast.
• Bloys doesn’t know when Westworld season 3 is coming.

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