Former HBO CEO says the Game of Thrones prequels are “something special”

Game of Thrones has been HBO’s poster child for nearly a decade now. Game of Thrones came in at a time when the television medium was at a decline. HBO managed to make the bold decision of bringing it to TV, and boy did it pay off. As we move towards the end of the show, HBO is already gearing up for a follow up, with multiple prequels for the show already in development. Former HBO CEO Richard Plepler recently said that these are “something special.”

Plepler was the one who greenlit Game of Thrones. After the recent buyout of HBO by AT&T, Plepler decided it was time to leave the company, and is no longer at HBO. On his way out, however, Plepler is still proud of Game of Thrones and the direction it is taking, moving forward.

A recent piece that Variety did on Kit Harington mentions Plepler’s comments on the prequels. Plepler said that the idea behind the prequels is:

“…something special. We weren’t just trying to re-engineer the genes of what ‘Game of Thrones’ was, but we had a fresh, exciting perspective that didn’t let the franchise go away.”

Plepler also discussed the show’s high point, where the public curiosity surrounding Jon Snow‘s death was at a record high. even the then President of the United States, Barack Obama, a well known fan of the show, asked Plepler about whether Jon was really dead. Plepler apparently replied with:

“Mr. President, even your security clearance isn’t high enough to give you the answer to that.”

Well, we hope Plepler has a fruitful future outside of HBO. As someone who made the decision to give us this beautiful show, he totally deserves it. What do you guys think? Talk to us in the comments, down below!

Looking for a few more spoilers on how Game of Thrones Season 8 finally plays out? Well, now you have a sturdy chance to know at least one character’s final arc. All you have to do is, somehow get access to Sophie Turner’s flat. That’s it, easy-peasy!

In a recent interview with Rolling Stones, the actor revealed that she has the storyboard of her last scene as Sansa Stark framed onto the wall of her new flat that she now shares with her fiance Joe Jonas. The storyboard was a present from showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss on her last day of filming Game of Thrones.

Photograph by Nicole Nodland for ‘Rolling Stone.’

Turner says it was their favourite Sansa scene in the show, and also the very last scene of Sansa’s story in it. Already emotional because she was about to leave for good, Turner says this sweet gesture on their part moved her to tears.

Turner has been in the news before for being open-handed with Game Of Thrones secrets. Given the amount of insane security that the makers have ensured for the final season, is it wise to hang something as significant as Sansa’s final scene up on the wall? Turner is not perturbed, however. She says nobody has yet realized its significance.

This likely means the storyboard does not give away anything major. But what’s the harm in speculating? For one thing, it does not seem too disturbing or violent, because that surely have attracted attention, right? We know its Sansa’s last scene, we know it’s not violent – does that mean Sansa survives?

It does seem like a strong possibility. But who knows? This is Game of Thrones after all. For now, our best bet seems just to wait for April 14.

Game of Thrones is the world’s most popular fantasy TV series. We have seen the show pioneer the genre, as well as drive the television medium to what it is today. Needless to say, everybody else is running around, trying to replicate HBO‘s success. Just take Amazon’s upcoming Lord of The Rings series. However, there’s some bad news for Game of Thrones in all of this – there’s a possibility that we might not get to see our favourite Game Of Thrones stars in some of the upcoming fantasy shows.

Speaking at MCM Comic-Con Birmingham, Game of Thrones actor Ian Beattie (Ser Meryn Trant) said that Game of Thrones actors are banned from auditioning for a certain upcoming fantasy show, which is based on a video game. You might remember Beattie, who had quite a remarkable exit from Game of Thrones:

Beattie said:

“It’s quite unusual because there was another show, that I’d rather not name if you don’t mind, which was auditioning. It’s based on a video game and I can’t remember if Amazon or Netflix were doing it. But at the bottom of the casting call: ‘No Game of Thrones actors’.”

There are rumors that say that Beattie is speaking about the upcoming The Witcher TV series, which is set to star Henry Cavill.

He continued:

“And that’s not the first time that’s happened. And I’m thinking, there’s some pretty bloody good actors in Game of Thrones. What the heck? But they did not want any form of brand recognition. That’s to do with the identity of the show. This is obviously a show that sees itself as a Game of Thrones-type show.”

Beattie makes a good point. If you’re a big production house that wants to create a competitor to such a big franchise, you obviously don’t want to make it too similar. With Game of Thrones, the actors are very recognizable by the fan base, and as a series in the same domain with chances of sharing the fan base, this kind of a decision seems smart. Not so good for Game of Thrones actors looking for their next break, though. Beattie threw some shade on the project on his way out:

“It isn’t out yet, it’s being made I think as we speak. So they obviously don’t want any crossover whatsoever, which is fair enough. I won’t be watching it, but OK.”

What do you think about the whole thing? Talk to us in the comments, down below!

Chill out folks, not all of Sophie Turner’s friends know what happens in the Game of Thrones finale. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Sansa Stark actor has cleared the air about reports that she spoiled the finale for several of her friends. Turner assures that’s it’s just two people, including her fiance Joe Jonas, and both of them are quite capable of keeping the secret.

Around January reports started circulating that she has revealed the top-secret finale to multiple people. Turner was quoted as saying,

“I’m so bad at keeping secrets, I don’t think people tell me things anymore because they know that I can’t keep them. I’ve already told the ending of Game of Thrones to a few people.”

This statement did not sit well with a section of Game Of Thrones fans. People accused her of sloppiness, particularly when the show makers are going to such lengths to keep it all secret. Turner says she found out about the backlash from news headlines on Twitter. She told EW,

 “The truth is I’ve only told two people. It’s not that many. To be honest, I don’t read many of the mentions on Twitter because there’s normally quite a bit of hate. Everything I say will always have some negative reactions so I’m not surprised.”

Turner with fiance Joe Jonas in a recent game. Jonas is one of the people who Turner has told about the finale.

Turner is likely referring to the negative sentiments associated with her character Sansa, and her on-screen disagreements with fan-favourite Jon Snow in Season 7 may have fueled that. While she shrugs off the negativity, she is aware of the unfairness of it.

Jon Snow actor Kit Harington has also admitted to revealing spoilers to his wife Rose Leslie in the recent past, but received no backlash for it (even that story was misinterpreted at first). The irony is not lost on Turner, who observes,

“The people love Kit Harington, he can do no wrong. He’s the people’s prince!”

Not fair, fans!