Interview
HBO cancelled Game of Thrones prequel after spending $30 million on the pilot
Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon is fast on track for release in 2022. It is a well-known fact it wasn’t the only series HBO was planning to develop back in 2019. There were a number of prequel series, of which House of The Dragon got the chance to move forward to production. Another prequel, rumored to have been named Blood Moon, or The Long Night, was scrapped. The fans were disheartened, and so was the cast. The show’s lead, Naomi Watts, was in tears. HBO had to suffer a heavy loss just to get through the pilot episode, costing them nearly $30 million!
“They had spent over $30 million on a Game of Thrones prequel pilot that was in production when I got there,” former WarnerMedia chairman Bob Greenblatt tells James Andrew Miller in the journalist’s new book about HBO, Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers.
“And when I saw a cut of [the pilot] a few months after I arrived, I said to [HBO head of content 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.”
Blood Moon, or The Long Night, however you want to phrase it, was set to be well over one thousand years before the mother series. There is no Iron Throne. There are no dragons. Westeros is a very different place.
What other prequel shows do you think are currently in development at HBO? Talk to us in the comments below!
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Frank Carmen
December 18, 2021 at 11:20 am
Make it happen everyone will watch it
XiTiZ
December 19, 2021 at 9:37 am
Yes…..there are so many crappy shows….. Please see if you can get Kevin Faige to steer the shipm
Harsh
December 19, 2021 at 6:15 pm
They should release the pilot in theatres. I’m 100% sure they would get back all of whatever they have spent on it. No one’s hard work would go on to waste.
Ralph Antony
December 22, 2021 at 2:55 am
Listen the original game of thrones is a once in a lifetime show so if you’re judging it against that all is bound to fail, for what it’s worth I don’t think House of the dragon will be as good as something based off the age of heroes with all its mythical creatures or the tales of old Valeria could be!
Koikoi
December 19, 2021 at 8:41 pm
Amazing series i ever watched I will give 10\10 ♥️
Charles E Ferrell
December 19, 2021 at 10:13 pm
Considering how poorly HBO ended GoT, there’s no way I’d watch any of these spin-offs.
Debra kline
December 23, 2021 at 10:17 pm
Oh please drop it. It was a TV show! It was great from beginning to end. I’d love 10 more shows that great.
BradT
March 25, 2022 at 1:26 am
It started off great but somewhere around Season 6, it all went to hell. The end of it was embarrassing. So, no. No matter what the hell they do end up releasing, I won’t be watching. They said a big “fuck you” to the fans when they complained because the last season sucked huge hairy balls. It’s their turn to go to hell because the fans don’t want any more rehashing of this story. Martin can’t even bring himself to finish the damn book cycle. Stick a damn fork it and move on already.
Candi Riefle
December 20, 2021 at 1:56 am
Oh no . We gotta have this !!! Make it happen
Donna M Quintal
December 25, 2021 at 1:00 am
I’ve always been a fan of Game of thrones hopefully house of the Dragon is still in the near future. We will be sure to watch it!!!there are many fans that would be disappointed if it doesn’t air.
Jajajajajajajajaj
December 18, 2021 at 12:27 pm
I think they’re fucking stupid as hell and they think the dragons are the only interesting thing.
Nishant Singh
December 18, 2021 at 3:39 pm
exactly… even if they take out dragons from game of throne the show will not lose its charm one bit. dragons were simply an extra. i dont think anyone watched game of thrones for dragons.
Alpesh
December 18, 2021 at 3:45 pm
It’s better that they don’t make it again as they present wrongly characters
Cha-majjah
December 18, 2021 at 4:55 pm
These guys think people only care about those lame ass dragons lol. This show would’ve given a much better dive into the verse then HOD which is just a adaptation of an already written book. We could’ve gotten some new material but nahhhh let’s make more dragons for people who don’t know shit about real Westeros.
Amar
December 18, 2021 at 7:41 pm
Dragons and white walker are everything
Julie Dodds
December 18, 2021 at 11:06 pm
Please when will you stop moaning let people know when it’s on TV stop all your nonsense and start the sequel
Logan Carter
December 19, 2021 at 2:13 am
THEY SCRAPPED IT….WHAT? You’ve got to be kidding me. The trailer looked amazing. I’m so blown by this. Damn HBO, you guys are a major vibe kill man. SMH
George
December 19, 2021 at 7:04 pm
HBO are you kidding me. We are looking forward to this. GOT is awesome and a prequel to it would have been a hit. Come on HBO you can’t get us excited about it and then let us down not cool.
Olimpia Peterman
December 23, 2021 at 6:38 am
You got that right buddy.
po
December 19, 2021 at 2:55 am
it must of been bad for them to scrap .A 30 mill loss sheesh
BradT
March 25, 2022 at 1:27 am
If the GoT finale was anything to go by, this pilot must have been horrendous.
Virginia Tilley
December 19, 2021 at 5:31 am
If “no dragons” was the reason they canceled that earlier series, then they’re falling into that old dreadful mistake of thinking people loved GOT for the special effects. I bet there’s not many GOT fans who wouldn’t have greatly preferred twice the number of episodes done on half the budget. We loved GOT for the story and the characters. And the actors, notably Peter Dinklage. But if “didn’t work” means something else, they could have been right, who knows? LET US WATCH IT AND TELL THEM, rather than leave the decision to a couple of network suits!
Aurora Ramos
December 19, 2021 at 5:41 am
That sux. Not everyone hated the way the other one ended. I was so looking forward to it and so were a lot of other people.
Scott
December 19, 2021 at 6:07 am
Maybe Netflix will pick it up
Natasha Gochenour
December 19, 2021 at 7:07 am
I mean I loved the dragons but we didn’t even see them that often anyway soo…
John Snow
December 19, 2021 at 9:57 am
You already spent the money; release it and gage the fan interest in it.
Floyd Snow
December 19, 2021 at 10:22 am
I did want a prequel, but not so far back. I wanted a prequel that explained life during the Mad King era or maybe a little before. I would have loved to see a visual of all those stories told in GOT. Like the power of Robert Baratheon on the battlefield, the skill of Sir Barristan and Ned Stark. A good visual of the drama between Lyanna Stark, Robert, and Rhaegar. Stuff like that. I kinda agree with the Chairman and HBO guy but honestly, I was going shut up watch it anyway. I’ve literally had nothing else interesting to watch since GOT. This sucks.
Josh
December 19, 2021 at 3:28 pm
I like this idea. Would love to see exact what your saying. I loved got more than anything else…. ever.. I’ve watched series literally 50 times.. and will continue watching till I stop breathing
Dkhal
December 19, 2021 at 12:44 pm
The worst part of the last season was not how Cersi was defeated so easily but how night king was killed by a thirteen year old killing all the hype. If this prequel is made about the long night, people will definitely stick to it. While we know most things about Targaryens and their fall through GOT, there are still lot of viewer curiosity towards the long night.
Steve
December 20, 2021 at 4:01 pm
Easily?
A Dragon literally dropped the red keep on her head.
It’s not like she caught a stray arrow.
Lord Florent
December 24, 2021 at 11:00 pm
It’s not like Cersei was an invincible power. She was delusional about retaining the Iron Throne once Daenerys arrived with her 3 dragons and armies. Heck, Kings Landing was almost sacked by Stannis Baratheon without dragons under Jeoffrey.
Joseph Denver
December 19, 2021 at 5:04 pm
Recently CANCELLED my HBO subscription.
Interestingly NO ONE ASKED WHY !?!??
Maybe HBO should actually ASK ???
Maxx Nieves
December 19, 2021 at 6:04 pm
I’m not surprised they scrapped it, unfortunately, most people aren’t going to care about what happened leading up to GoT when they screwed up the ending so badly. Who cares what lead up to the White Walkers and how that all started when they basically did nothing and were taken out in such a dumb, anticlimactic way?
Jeff
December 24, 2021 at 8:19 pm
Exactly.
I could not have said it better…. Atleast we have Dexter New Blood.
Harsh
December 19, 2021 at 6:18 pm
They should release the pilot episode in theatres. I am hundred percent sure that they would get all of whatever they have spent on it back. Also no one’s hard work would go to waste specially the cast.
Rena Miller
December 19, 2021 at 9:26 pm
I have read this but I still don’t know why they canceled it I’m not quite sure I Love game of thrones it was the greatest movie I’ve watched in a long long time and I did want to see the prequel but I don’t understand why they scrapped it somebody could tell me I’d appreciate it thank you
bessie bell
December 19, 2021 at 10:08 pm
We need this…Don’t take this away from us…They don’t have hardly anything for us to watch anymore….You have already spent the money so why not just let us see what yall did…
Austin West
December 20, 2021 at 1:03 am
Just give us spin offs of every cast star taking their on journey after they went their separate ways we will love that
Amit
December 20, 2021 at 3:20 pm
GOT is my best series
Steve
December 20, 2021 at 3:57 pm
Lol 90% of the ppl complaining would be the same people ragging on it saying it’s not as good bla bla.
There’s still a prequel coming. They just chose to focus on one.
Personally I’m glad. Quality bests quantity every time.
Cindy Shockey
December 21, 2021 at 6:30 am
It’s stupid to not release what you have! You are making this show for the fans and more fans to come. I wish I got paid BIG BUCKS for doing stupid stuff like this, but I wouldn’t do this and I would get bigger bucks then you!! What are you scared of!!!
BradT
March 25, 2022 at 1:31 am
The same fans they spat on with that abysmal finale? They don’t give a crap about the fans. They only care about raking in more money from a fetid corpse. It speaks volumes about how bad that pilot must be if they’re willing to write off a $30m loss on it rather than go forward with the series. Sorry but I’m just sitting here laughing my ass off. Way to go, HBO.
Katherine Woodward
December 21, 2021 at 7:24 pm
THIS IS INSANE ,YOU HAVE TO RELEASE IT!! I COULD WATCH ANYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH GOT,, OW RELEASE IT OR ELSE,,?lol….Oh,I DO LOVE THE DRAGONS,,AN WHITE WALKERS,, JUST ANYTHING,,ANYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH “GOTs” PLEASE PLEASE RELEASE!!! something has to give with HBO an TV altogether,it all sucks,nothing ever to watch!!!
John Hemenway
December 21, 2021 at 9:47 pm
COME ON HBO, do something! Your current product is UNWATCHABLE!!!!
Bidyut Chowdhury
December 23, 2021 at 12:38 pm
Please!! please make it happen, it will be a great success. GOT is the best I hv ever watched. Don’t deprive us…holding high hopes to see it again