The Game of Thrones world is ever evolving. With a number of spinoffs in the works, HBO Programming President Casey Bloys gave some insight on the future of those shows and what his expansion plan is for the award-winning, critically-acclaimed fantasy franchise.
“The way we try to approach it is not by [saying], ‘We need five shows within three years,’ but ‘What are the stories worth telling?'” Bloys told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. “We’ve been developing multiple takes on different worlds. The one I want to do is the one that I think is best creatively. I prefer to make it about the stories and the showrunners and their vision as opposed to hitting some arbitrary target for the right number of shows.”
Currently, a series adaptation of Tales of Dunk and Egg, based on the fantasy novellas by George R. R. Martin, is in early development.House of the Dragon also received a series order in October 2019, just after the network passed on its other GoT prequel, which had shot a pilot starring Naomi Watts. Additionally, last month it was announced that HBO Max is reportedly in early development on an animated series.
When asked if the network plans on developing the franchise like Disney has done with Marvel and Star Wars, Bloys stated, “No.”
“I look at for HBO Max and WarnerMedia looks at it overall, that we have these great brands: HBO, DC, whatever we’re going to do with Game of Thrones. I don’t think as a company you necessarily want to think about it terms of just what’s on HBO Max or just what’s in theaters,” he explained. “It’s overall, what do we have? In terms of over-saturation to me and HBO Max, for any slate, whether it’s at HBO or HBO Max, you try to have some diversity and variance in the slate so it’s not all DC, so it’s not all adult animation, it’s not all acquired programming.”
“You find the right level for subscribers that they really respond to and are always finding something new and different to watch,” he added. “On HBO Max, I don’t want to do all DC shows; I don’t want to do all Game of Thrones spinoffs. But a good mix of those. They’re great properties to have within the mix.”
Boys also told EW that House of the Dragon will start filming in April, and confirmed that there are no talks about a GoT movie. He previously said last January that House of the Dragon would likely premiere in 2022.
