HBO Execs Considering Game of Thrones “Brand Extension”

[Westeros]

The Hollywood Reporter, covering HBO CEO Richard Plepler’s presence in Spain for the launch of HBO Spain, reports that Plepler remarked to their reporter that there are “embryonic conversations” going on in HBO headquarters about possible spin-offs between himself, President of Programming Casey Bloys, and the producers of the hit show. To quote Plepler more directly:

“Right now we’re focused on finishing the series with the kind of energy and excitement that everyone has come to expect. We’re going to do that while at the same time parallel processing very embryonic stages of other possibilities.”

This continues the pattern of various executives and producers acknowledging their interest in following the series up with some sort of spin-off after its initial run is complete. Suggestions that have come from various parties to those conversations include a feature film, a continuation of the Game of Thrones story beyond its end (presumably following a mixture of old characters—some of those who survive the whole thing, no doubt—and new creations for the theoretical sequel), and even prequels drawing from the histories in The World of Ice and Fire or the Dunk & Egg novellas as found in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

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[[Deleted]]

This could be interesting. As much as people would like to see it, I hope they don't do a Robert's Rebellion prequel, since it would reveal a lot of the mysteries at the start of GoT. Think about the Star Wars prequels.... Sometimes it's better to just not know.

Also not sure how I feel about a sequel. If the ending is bittersweet with a lot of Westeros destroyed and a lot of characters dead, I'm not sure how interesting it'd be to watch a show about rebuilding the world. Seems like it'd be kind of boring.

So, Dunk & Egg it is!

Or, if they want to be really ambitious, show us the Long Night. I think that'd be pretty cool, depending on how much we find out was actually true about the Long Night over these last 2 seasons.

[Newstar]

22 hours ago, Westeros said:

The Hollywood Reporter, covering HBO CEO Richard Plepler’s presence in Spain for the launch of HBO Spain, reports that Plepler remarked to their reporter that there are “embryonic conversations” going on in HBO headquarters about possible spin-offs between himself, President of Programming Casey Bloys, and the producers of the hit show. To quote Plepler more directly:

“Right now we’re focused on finishing the series with the kind of energy and excitement that everyone has come to expect. We’re going to do that while at the same time parallel processing very embryonic stages of other possibilities.”

This continues the pattern of various executives and producers acknowledging their interest in following the series up with some sort of spin-off after its initial run is complete. Suggestions that have come from various parties to those conversations include a feature film, a continuation of the Game of Thrones story beyond its end (presumably following a mixture of old characters—some of those who survive the whole thing, no doubt—and new creations for the theoretical sequel), and even prequels drawing from the histories in The World of Ice and Fire or the Dunk & Egg novellas as found in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

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Dunk & Egg wouldn't work. Insufficiently high stakes and different tone from GOT (a rambling picaresque lacking GOT's urgency), no big battles or dragons (part of the Game-of-Thrones-by-HBO brand), insufficiently interesting characters. Also, it would encounter the same problem as GOT: it would run out of source material, and much more quickly than GOT did.

Robert's Rebellion might work as a miniseries, but there's not enough material there for an ongoing series, which is what I suspect HBO is after.

The Dance of the Dragons wouldn't work, either. GOT has to ration out the dragons to a few measly appearances every season. The CGI for the dragon battles alone would beggar the production. 

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Also not sure how I feel about a sequel. If the ending is bittersweet with a lot of Westeros destroyed and a lot of characters dead, I'm not sure how interesting it'd be to watch a show about rebuilding the world. Seems like it'd be kind of boring.

Yeah. HBO would also have to pay a fortune to get any of the original lead actors, assuming their characters survive (by no means a given, admittedly), to stick around for the sequel. They're already paying them an ungodly amount. I suppose for the sequel they could recast those characters or kill them off, but that would likely go over like a lead balloon with GOT fans.

Also, GOT can get away with show-only changes from ASOIAF because the showrunners have always been emphatic about the endings being the same; for all the show's deviations, the show's ending will be the same as that envisioned by GRRM. Extrapolating out past that identical ending to a sequel that has nothing to do with anything written by GRRM just seems downright disrespectful. There's also the issue of what would happen if GRRM chooses to write post-ASOIAF stories of his own down the line that HBO wants to adapt. A sequel involving the same characters that did violence to the original ending--such as killing off in short order characters who had survived the entirety of GOT because the actors refused to come back--would also diminish the value of the original series. I doubt HBO would open that can of worms lightly.

HBO's best bet for a sequel, if they're absolutely dead set on doing one, would be to set it 100 years after the ending of GOT. All the original surviving characters would be dead--thus no need to pay actors to come back--and the show could focus on a whole new generation, some of whom could be descended from the original surviving cast. 

[SerHaHa]

I agree regarding the Dragon CGI and budget - therefore a time from the history of ASOIAF after the dragons died, but prior to Robert's Rebellion, would work IMO - there are MANY battles and such that a multi year series could be built on.

Also, I wonder if they've ever considered an animated series - a more adult one.  This would eliminate huge budget CGI costs, and allow you to create characters as large/etc as you would want (the Mountain for example could be made 8 feet tall instead of 7 and 100lbs lighter than he was in the books, that sort of thing).  I think Aegon's landing/war would work well in this case, as you could have lots of dragons and fire, and avoid breaking the bank.  They could also make battles as large as they wanted, I complained often and loudly in season 1/2 about how the battles were such small scale things, even the Blackwater episode - it's improved in the last seasons, partially, but they'll still never have a 40k vs 30k battle like has happened all throughout the history of Westeros, it's just too much even with CGI help.  Animated however, you COULD have battle of that size shown.

[The Dragon has three heads]

 

Just no 

[Werthead]

Based on George's previous position, HBO does not have the rights to Robert's Rebellion or any other series or story set in Westeros: any new project would require his blessing. He appears to have gotten that agreement in return for not taking any stories set in Westeros or Essos to another production company, so both HBO and GRRM have to be in agreement for a spin-off series to happen. George has said repeatedly that he has no interest in doing the Rebellion. Maybe he'll change his mind or maybe HBO will bury his house in money and then he'll change his mind.

From the sound of it, GRRM is happy to have D&E adapted and will listen to a HBO proposal about anything else.

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Dunk & Egg wouldn't work. Insufficiently high stakes and different tone from GOT (a rambling picaresque lacking GOT's urgency), no big battles or dragons (part of the Game-of-Thrones-by-HBO brand), insufficiently interesting characters. Also, it would encounter the same problem as GOT: it would run out of source material, and much more quickly than GOT did.

That's the problem with any spin-off: it won't be the original and it will be different. By definition it will be less epic, less sweeping and smaller in scale than GoT, which I think is why HBO will carefully consider if audiences will still be interested. HBO don't have a huge amount of capacity for new shows and a GoT spin-off will take up airspace that could be given to a new, original property that could be as popular. If anything, the success of Westworld shows that HBO can still make big new zeitgeisty shows when it puts its mind to it.

But D&E could work. I don't think HBO will be that interested in TV movies or limited mini-series. I think the best way to adapt it would be as a regular, ongoing show. The Hedge Knight could be the first 2-3 episodes, then you have original stories drawing on their unseen adventures in Dorne and Oldtown, then maybe end the season with The Sworn Sword or start Season 2 with it. End Season 2 with The She-Wolves (do a big marketing thing about the return to Winterfell). Then in Season 3 start doing the time skips, bring in the Third and Fourth Blackfyre Rebellions, Aegon taking the throne, Dunk fighting the Laughing Storm etc. Then at the end of the series you do Summerhall and tie it in with the birth of Rhaegar.

And yes, it'd require original material to be written and GRRM's stories would only provide the basis for a few episodes. But ASoIaF won't be finished for years and the D&E stories for many years even after that, so if anything I think it'd work better as a TV show than GoT (GoT often suffers from try to knock the round peg of massive sprawling books into the square hole of an hour-long TV show).

Particularly pleasing would be the fact tha Weiss & Benioff won't be involved (they'll be off to their Fox movie development deal). Although semi-adequate adapters of other people's superior material, they tend to flounder with their original scripts. Them sodding off allows newer and hopefully better writers to take over (and I'd hope that Cogman would stay on in a more senior role, as he "gets" Westeros far better than Weiss & Benioff do).

[SerHaHa]

Excellent suggestions and ideas Wert, I particularly like your idea on how to adapt D/E, as well as the time skipping idea, in order to visit various other great stories in the world of Ice/Fire. 

[Langsax]

I will be happy enough if they just finish the original concept and show.  

[Jedi Renee]

I think d and e would be wonderful. The tournament in the first book would be very exciting indeed. I think several mini series , one for each if the novellas and more as they are written.

[Faceless Man Friday]

GRRM has expressed a desire to write another book series on all of the Targaryen Kings.  We are talking about 300 years of history before Robert.  That is quite an ambitious project for someone who has spent 20 years writing about events that have taken place over the course of some 3 years.  But the source material contained in the book the World of Ice and Fire can fuel 100 episodes or more.  It also has all the blood, sex and dragons that anyone could ever want.  If they want to do an epic spin off, I believe that is the direction in which they should go.  At the same time GRRM will be able to see his vision of the Targaryens come to life in a TV series rather than another epic book series, which he most likely will not have time to write unless he is immortal. 

[publius]

Roberts Rebellion would be horrible because we already know how it ends, who lives and who dies.  It would be like taking every aspect of GoT that people found addictive and went in the exact opposite direction. Personally, I hope for Dunk and Egg or something similar. No need to replay a Game of Thrones plot in another era.

[The Arthur Smith]

I think an original spin-off would be much better instead of adapting a source material that is either the audience already know or it's insufficient to put on television (coughD&Ecough). Kinda like doing what the Star Wars franchise has been doing.

[publius]

Maybe a “rise of the Targaryians” storyline would be interesting, but they would still run into the problem that I’m pretty sure we all know would live and that the Targaryians would win out in the end.

[Orphalesion]

I'd love Duncan and Egg, I think it would feel a lot like the first season of GoT.  Let's hope the'd find a good looking actor for Ser Duncan, though hehehehe. 

The biggest concern I'd have is if they'd manage to make the Westeros of D&E look different enough from the Westeros of GoT, after all its a century of difference, so I wouldn't want it to look like Cersei could walk into any given scene and not look at least a little bit out of place.

 

[Azzanadra]

Dunk and Egg would be perfect, the show has a perchance for buddy-cop dramas anyways, so having a whole story that combines a smaller scale with a more whimsical, idealistic portrayal of Westeros could prove both an enjoyable show and a nice change of pace for the franchise. 

[Lady Blizzardborn]

On 1/5/2017 at 7:03 PM, publius said:

Roberts Rebellion would be horrible because we already know how it ends, who lives and who dies.  It would be like taking every aspect of GoT that people found addictive and went in the exact opposite direction. Personally, I hope for Dunk and Egg or something similar. No need to replay a Game of Thrones plot in another era.

We don't know all the answers to the questions we have though. There are a ton of things that could wind up being different from what people thought.

Here's a twist: Aerys mistakenly thinks he's heard that Rhaegar won at the Trident and is coming to remove him; he's going to blow up the city and let his son "be king of bones and ashes." Totally doable because we never get Aerys' POV. Jaime knows what the facts were, but did the insane king really know what was going on? 

I agree that something else would be better though for a while. Everyone needs breathing room before bringing in a lot of the same characters in their younger days. And RR only works if GRRM does not solve all those mysteries, which he may well do.

[publius]

On 1/30/2017 at 7:57 PM, Lady Blizzardborn said:

We don't know all the answers to the questions we have though. There are a ton of things that could wind up being different from what people thought.

Here's a twist: Aerys mistakenly thinks he's heard that Rhaegar won at the Trident and is coming to remove him; he's going to blow up the city and let his son "be king of bones and ashes." Totally doable because we never get Aerys' POV. Jaime knows what the facts were, but did the insane king really know what was going on? 

I agree that something else would be better though for a while. Everyone needs breathing room before bringing in a lot of the same characters in their younger days. And RR only works if GRRM does not solve all those mysteries, which he may well do.

Don’t get me wrong. I would love to watch a young Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon take on the world, but I think that it would be better to tread other unexplored ground. 

[Sigella]

How lovely would it be for them to do Aegons conquest? I mean, they could drag that one out quite a bit with Dornes resistance and all..

[Dareaper]

There is a ton of stuff they could do.  I'd love Aegons Conquest as a series, dance, and other stuff.

[Sigella]

My biggest wish is that they don't exclude the eye-coloring thing this time though.