It’s only two months until the final season of Game Of Thrones begins – and as much as it’ll be tough to say goodbye to Westeros and its cavalcade of corrupt characters, fans of the show can rest assured that more is, of course, on the way. The spin-off prequel series, set long before the events of the original show, is gearing up for production – and according to Entertainment Weekly, the pilot is going to shoot this coming summer. That perhaps suggests that the first episode won’t find the fantasy continent in the grips of one of its years-long winters – but that’s all conjecture for now.
In fact, pretty much everything is under wraps on the show. While it’s rumoured to be titled The Long Night, that’s not official. The characters are yet to be confirmed, though the cast is led by Naomi Watts, alongside Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, and Jamie Campbell-Bower. The series has Jane Goldman as showrunner, who worked up a concept for the show with original Thrones author George R.R. Martin. Here’s the official synopsis: “Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’s history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend… it’s not the story we think we know.”
According to EW, the prequel series is unlikely to air until roughly a year after its parent show wraps up – so expect this one to hit your screens in 2020. In the meantime, there’s the small matter of Game Of Thrones Season 8 – which will see humanity go to war against the intruding army of the dead, while Cersei Lannister plots to remain the ruler of the resulting rubble. Bring it on.
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