While HBO is moving forward with a new Game of Thrones prequel show, House of the Dragon for release in 2022, one of its earlier ideas was canceled. Now it’s been revealed how much HBO spent on one of the earlier projects: $30 million. That’s how much HBO spent to film the pilot for a show apparently based on the Long Night and Age of Heroes starring Naomi Watts.
In the new book, Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, former WarnerMedia chairman Bob Greenblatt spoke about the canceled prequel and revealed its price tag.
“They had spent over $30 million on a Game of Thrones prequel pilot that was in production when I got there,” Greenblatt said, as reported by IGN. “And when I saw a cut of it in a few months after I arrived, I said to [HBO boss Casey Bloys], ‘This just doesn’t work, and I don’t think it delivers on the promise of the original series.’ And he didn’t disagree, which actually was a relief.”
Greenblatt said there was “enormous pressure” to “get it right” to help the Game of Thrones franchise grow. When it wasn’t working out, HBO decided to pull the plug and pursue other ideas.
Game of Thrones fans may recall that the pilot for the original Game of Thrones ran into a number of issues. The pilot featured actress Tamzin Merchant as Daenarys before HBO recast the role with Emilia Clarke.
In addition to House of the Dragon, which releases on HBO Max in 2022, HBO is moving forward with another show based on Dunk and Egg. Steve Conrad has been hired to write it.
In other news, it’s been revealed that author George R.R. Martin lobbied for 10 seasons of Game of Thrones and that he was apparently not happy with how the series wrapped up.
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