Prequel Discussion

[El Guapo]

Yeah I like the Dunk and Egg stories as much as the next guy but I just can't see these being made into a tv show. There is just not enough Interesting material.  If they do anything it is going to be the Dance of The Dragons no doubt about it.  The dragons are a huge draw for the viewers I don't think anyone could dispute that. Sure it could be expensive though they could hold off on a lot of the CGI  for a bit if they had to just as they did in the first season when all the big battlers happened off screen. If this type of a prequel got anything close to the viewers they are getting now the CGI won't be a problem anyway.

[dsug]

How about a series about Aegon's conquest? Start with his first landing at the Blackwater rush, end it when he finally gets control of Dorne. 

[JonSnow4President]

But the end result would already be known for a prequel.  How would they ever make it work without the shocks?  (Although I suppose D&D are tired of this series, so you might actually get good writers for it.)

[KINGpanther]

I would really like tosee a story WITHOUT dragons. I do like dragons but the CGI costs sap up the dough. The money could  be better spent on better actors, more battle scenes, bigger sets ETC.

[Blueroses]

I don't think the "lack of the surprise elements/ shocks" is a problem of a the rebellion prequel. A lot of people knew (through the books or internet) about Ned Stark fate, about the Reed Wedding, Jon getting stabbed and watched the show anyway. For exclusive show fans (and potentialy new vienws), the predictable outcome would be the rebellion winning side, they would still be kind if confused with a lot of stuff related to the mad king early reign, the evolution of his relationship with his former "friend" Tywin Lannister, Brandon Stark storyline with Catlyn, Ned and Robert friendship, Harrenhal, Robert behaviour explaining why Lyanna would have escaped (did she ?) this way rather than marrying him, Rhaegar motivations (Love, fulfilling a prophecy, more children ?) and the alleged rumours about him trying to despose of his father "peacefully", Dragonstone siege, why did Benjen take the black... Specially that a lot of this points are still not clear.

Still, I don't know if the story would need more than one season, may be a movie would be a better option ? I don't know how it could work.

Same goes for the Dance, even if I like it see it depiste knowing the outcome, I can't see how they can adapt it into a tv show. Much less material than ASOIAF+enormous CGI costs makes it perfect for a movies saga and people who didn't read the books or wiki won't have a clue who's going to really "win" at end (though even the people who know the story don't know who finally won for sure either).

I haven't read the Dunk and Egg stories, but they seem to be a bit different and "unrelated" to our main ASOIAF story.

[dsug]

6 hours ago, Blueroses said:

I don't think the "lack of the surprise elements/ shocks" is a problem of a the rebellion prequel. A lot of people knew (through the books or internet) about Ned Stark fate, about the Reed Wedding, Jon getting stabbed and watched the show anyway. For exclusive show fans (and potentialy new vienws), the predictable outcome would be the rebellion winning side, they would still be kind if confused with a lot of stuff related to the mad king early reign, the evolution of his relationship with his former "friend" Tywin Lannister, Brandon Stark storyline with Catlyn, Ned and Robert friendship, Harrenhal, Robert behaviour explaining why Lyanna would have escaped (did she ?) this way rather than marrying him, Rhaegar motivations (Love, fulfilling a prophecy, more children ?) and the alleged rumours about him trying to despose of his father "peacefully", Dragonstone siege, why did Benjen take the black... Specially that a lot of this points are still not clear.

Still, I don't know if the story would need more than one season, may be a movie would be a better option ? I don't know how it could work.

Same goes for the Dance, even if I like it see it depiste knowing the outcome, I can't see how they can adapt it into a tv show. Much less material than ASOIAF+enormous CGI costs makes it perfect for a movies saga and people who didn't read the books or wiki won't have a clue who's going to really "win" at end (though even the people who know the story don't know who finally won for sure either).

I haven't read the Dunk and Egg stories, but they seem to be a bit different and "unrelated" to our main ASOIAF story.

Yeah I think excluding a prequel because we know how it ends is silly because that's the point of a prequel, that we know what happens next. Doesn't make the journey any less enjoyable. Look at the Star Wars, we all know that Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, and all the shenanigans that become of that. But that doesn't make Anakin's life and fall from grace leading up to that any less interesting. 

And yeah, I don't love the prospect of D&E being adapted. To be crass, I think it'd be very boring. 

[Cas Stark]

I don't think they will do Robert's Rebellion, we know the entire story, the only difference is we'd be "seeing" it instead of having heard about it and even seen some flashbacks on GOT.  We know what all the main characters do, when, why and where it leads.  Plus, it would be jarring to see other actors playing the main characters who are supposed to be only 15 years younger than their GOT selves.

GRRM seems to be most interested in House Targaryen at this stage, so I would think either the war of succession in Westeros or they'll go all the way back and do Aegon and his sisters.  

[Ser Walter of AShwood]

I would really love to see the D&E novellas converted to 3 movies. First of all, because they are fun stories, that show a different Westeros. Still in control of the Targaryens, with a prince who really doesn't want to be a prince, a knight who isn't a knight, a royal arrogant SOB, a trial by 7, royal bastards who are seeking to overthrow the current Targs, or to keep them on the throne. Smaller squabbles between minor houses, a deeper understanding of the feudal age that they are living in.
And yes, the 3 movies should then focus on Dunk and Egg. But the other characters should most definitely be given enough attention. They should explain who Bloodraven is and especially what the Blackfyres are.

On the other hand, if there was to be a (mini)series on Roberts Rebellion, I think the best way to do that is to use the entire build-up until the rebellion itself. It should start in the Eyrie, showing Ned and Roberts friendship, but also in Kingslanding, showing the suspicious nature of Aerys II Targaryen and his relation with Rhaegar. And perhaps showing Howland Reeds trip to the Gods Eye.
Then of course the tourney at Harrenhall, with all of the major players at 1 location.
I think that only the tourney at Harrenhall itself can be multiple episodes. There is so much taking place at Harrenhall, that would be too much for a movie (even Peter Jackson length), and a series would provide so much extra information.

So my suggestions would be:

1. Movies about the Dunk and Egg Novellas.
2. A miniseries about everything leading to Roberts Rebellion, but not the rebellion itself, since we know how that went.

Upsides for this: We are shown a lot of background stories, without duplicating everything that is shown or told in the major stories.

[A Ghost of Someone]

Start with the Conquest up to Robert's Rebellion, obviously spend greater time on the Dance of Dragons, The failed Conquest of Dorne, Dunk and Egg, The Blackfyre Rebellions leading up to the reign of the Mad King and the Rebellion. 10 years so long as D&D&C (the current show runners) have nothing to do with it.

[dsug]

yeah tbh there's enough material to justify multiple prequels

give us a conquest series, a dance series, a robert's rebellion series. 

i think by then, it would be too much and there would be some GoT fatigue, buut they could do it if they wanted to. 

[Good Guy Garlan]

Honestly, the best option would be to ignore the chronology and just take a bunch of cool stuff from Dunk and Egg and Egg's reign and combine it into a good series, from the events of the hedge knight all the way to Summerhal.

There are a lot of potential enemies and interesting characters, like the Blackfyres and Bloodraven, Rohanne Webber, the Stark women, Betha Blackwood, Tytos Lannister, Dagon Greyjoy, the Laughing Storm, the Queen of Thorns, the Rat, the Hawk and the Pig (whatever the fuck those were), and on and on. 

And like I said, you don't have to follow the chronology to the letter, just pack all those events during a shorter time frame. 

[Lord Lannister]

The Dance of Dragons would be awesome to see fleshed out. Plus they'd have more freedom with the script and casting since it's so far removed from the rest of the show.

[dsug]

2 hours ago, Lord Lannister said:

The Dance of Dragons would be awesome to see fleshed out. Plus they'd have more freedom with the script and casting since it's so far removed from the rest of the show.

true. and if you think about it, it's a relatively contained story. it's one war with one set of characters. there's nothing going on beyond the wall, there's no assassins training in braavos. it's one story, so they would have the freedom to expand everything, instead of scaling everything back in order to make it all fit. 

[Ser Walter of AShwood]

10 hours ago, dsug said:

true. and if you think about it, it's a relatively contained story. it's one war with one set of characters. there's nothing going on beyond the wall, there's no assassins training in braavos. it's one story, so they would have the freedom to expand everything, instead of scaling everything back in order to make it all fit. 

But the problem with the DoD is the budget. Do you realise how much money is required to create proper virtual dragons without it looking like crap? We've seen it on the show already, when you see Dany flying away on Drogons back in season 5. It certainly gave me a flashback to 1984's never ending story. It takes a crew of 10 people up to 6 months to create a single scene featuring a dragon. Image doing that for a series where you would need multiple dragons, in multiple scenes, in every episode.

The budget would be impossible.

So, for more realistic prequel(s), my money would still be on Dunk and Egg, but also in the events leading up to RR, or perhaps even the Greyjoy Rebellion. No massive CGI required, and thus a lower budget, leaving plenty of money for decent actors and a good script.

[Angel Eyes]

I have a specific idea for the Battle of the Trident: with Rhaegar and Robert standing face to face in the river, Rhaegar with both his arms broken by Robert's hammer, and the two of them share a long look with each other, before Robert buries his hammer in Rhaegar's chest.

The final exchange

[Byfort of Corfe]

17 hours ago, Angel Eyes said:

I have a specific idea for the Battle of the Trident: with Rhaegar and Robert standing face to face in the river, Rhaegar with both his arms broken by Robert's hammer, and the two of them share a long look with each other, before Robert buries his hammer in Rhaegar's chest.

The final exchange

I truly like this.  we're used to seeing Robert as too fat for his armor, surrounded by Lannisters, remembering better days.  We forget that Robert was a dynamic Knight, even Ser Barristan says so when he explains to Dany why he took Robert's Pardon.  And Robert was chivalrous, the scene where he tells Cersei about Lyanna, that her death left a hole in him that Seven Kingdoms couldn't fill, that's the Robert I would like to see.  And I would like to see the Rhaegar that Ser Barristan tells Dany about, going into the streets to sing.  And along the way well, who was the Knight of the Laughing Tree and were Lyanna and Rhaegar in love and if so what made this pillar of chivalry turn his back on his wife and children?  Sure we know the end but who didn't know that the Titanic sank?  And a natural starting point would be at or just before the Great Tournament at Harrenhall.  And even to stand by Jaime Lannister when he makes the fateful decision, his honor or the lives of tens of thousands who would forever scorn him for saving their lives.

[RhaenysBee]

The only prequel I would watch is Robert's Rebellion. I know, I'm boring. 

Nothing would ever make me watch a Dunk and Egg movie and I'm pretty sure I would skip a Dance of Dragons mini series too. 

I might tune in for an Aegon's conquest prequel. Dragons. Targaryens. Love triangle. 6 episodes. I would watch that. 

You know what else I would watch? A LOTR Sequel. Any number of seasons. M to R rated. I can do casting. Oh well, that ship sailed a while ago. 

[Angel Eyes]

I could see Robert's Rebellion being done, as it's more realistic as well with no dragons and white walkers.

[Byfort of Corfe]

5 hours ago, RhaenysB said:

The only prequel I would watch is Robert's Rebellion. I know, I'm boring. 

Nothing would ever make me watch a Dunk and Egg movie and I'm pretty sure I would skip a Dance of Dragons mini series too. 

I might tune in for an Aegon's conquest prequel. Dragons. Targaryens. Love triangle. 6 episodes. I would watch that. 

You know what else I would watch? A LOTR Sequel. Any number of seasons. M to R rated. I can do casting. Oh well, that ship sailed a while ago. 

Not too boring, I've never read Dunk and Egg but I hear that they are novellas and I guess that there are three of them, that doesn't sound like nearly enough story to fill more than one season.  And GoT is an expensive production, building sets and acquiring locations and doing the location shooting for just a season of maybe 10 episodes doesn't sound viable to me.  BTW, way off topic but I would really be good with another Master and Commander movie.

5 hours ago, Angel Eyes said:

I could see Robert's Rebellion being done, as it's more realistic as well with no dragons and white walkers.

And it also has characters that we already know, albeit younger versions of themselves and we as an audience are generally interested in those characters.  After all in S6 we got to see Ser Arthur Dayne, admittedly only for a short while, we got to see young Ned and meet Lyanna.  I'm deeply into that.

[Ser Walter of AShwood]

7 hours ago, Byfort of Corfe said:

Not too boring, I've never read Dunk and Egg but I hear that they are novellas and I guess that there are three of them, that doesn't sound like nearly enough story to fill more than one season.

The Hedge Knight is 160 pages, the Sworn sword and the Mystery Knight aren't that much shorter.
The Hobbit is 300 pages, and Peter Jackson managed to create 3 movies with a total length of 8hours and 20 minutes.

Seems to me like there is plenty of material to work with, especially if we are added some 'extra scenes' of the tournament(s), castles and lords hanging around. Now, I agree that a Dunk and Egg series would be a bad idea, but the books do lend themselves for 3 2-hour movies.
You could create a complete WOIAF franchise if you really wanted.

Movies:

• Dunk and Egg stories
• She Wolves of Winterfell
• Doom of Valyria
• The Rise and Fall of Qarth
• Asshai
• Lan the Clever (aka Lannisters slithering into Casterly rock)
• The Kings of Winter
• The first Stormkings
• Westeros lands pre-conquest (perhaps 7 movies, where each one focusses on a single kingdom)
• The Reynes of Castamere (but only after the miniseries on Tywin leaving Kingslanding)
• Greyjoy Rebellion (after the miniseries about RR of course)

Miniseries:

• Aegons Conquest
• Bloodravens actions (you know, killing a blackfyre, being banned to the wall, becoming LC, leaving for the cave)
• Tywin vs Aegon (what caused Tywin to resign as hand and leave KL)
• Events leading up to Roberts Rebellion
• Roberts Rebellion

Other suggestions (either miniseries or movie):

• The invasion of the Andals
• The events leading up to the pact between COTF and Men

I'm sure I missed a couple of very nice stories.
Heck, with all the material and backstory we have, we could create a larger franchise then the Marvel Universe (and with a better storyline).

_{Edit: Added some more options}