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HBO Exploring Four Spin-off Stories


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On 2017. 05. 05. at 10:21 PM, Newstar said:

Why shouldn't D&D cash in on a GOT spinoff? The only reason there would even be a spinoff in the first place is the blockbuster success of GOT.

Thank you. I'm really glad someone said this and I didn't have to. 

Regardless of who sits in the writing room, I have no high hopes for these potential spin-off. They are only producing them to milk the story, which is only natural and understandable from a business perspective, but it's going to be pretty damn difficult to make any spinoff good enough to take the audience's mind off this. It will take a hell of a cast and writer to make it work and you still have to sell it, and no that's not going to be as easy as it seems. 

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25 minutes ago, RhaenysB said:

Thank you. I'm really glad someone said this and I didn't have to. 

Regardless of who sits in the writing room, I have no high hopes for these potential spin-off. They are only producing them to milk the story, which is only natural and understandable from a business perspective, but it's going to be pretty damn difficult to make any spinoff good enough to take the audience's mind off this. It will take a hell of a cast and writer to make it work and you still have to sell it, and no that's not going to be as easy as it seems. 

True. Spinoffs, even of monstrously successful shows, generally do not have a great track record, although of course there are notable exceptions.

I think it could work as long as HBO doesn't go in trying to make Game of Thrones 2.0 (including trying to mess with a spinoff premise to make it more like GOT), and as long as the audience doesn't go in expecting that they're going to get Game of Thrones 2.0. I mean, Frasier wasn't Cheers 2.0, but it was pretty great.

One problem is that the TV landscape is pretty different from 2011 when GOT premiered. Due in no small part I think to GOT's success, there's a lot more interest in period and particularly medieval drama of the type any dragonless, zombieless pre-ASOIAF story like Dunk & Egg would offer. Why would someone jonesing for lavish medieval drama watch Dunk & Egg or the War of the Ninepenny Kings when they could watch The White Princess, Outlander, Vikings or The Last Kingdom? I know HBO is looking to cash in on GOT's success, but any spinoff will indirectly suffer from all the competition that has sprung up in response to GOT.

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32 minutes ago, Newstar said:

True. Spinoffs, even of monstrously successful shows, generally do not have a great track record, although of course there are notable exceptions.

I think it could work as long as HBO doesn't go in trying to make Game of Thrones 2.0 (including trying to mess with a spinoff premise to make it more like GOT), and as long as the audience doesn't go in expecting that they're going to get Game of Thrones 2.0. I mean, Frasier wasn't Cheers 2.0, but it was pretty great.

One problem is that the TV landscape is pretty different from 2011 when GOT premiered. Due in no small part I think to GOT's success, there's a lot more interest in period and particularly medieval drama of the type any dragonless, zombieless pre-ASOIAF story like Dunk & Egg would offer. Why would someone jonesing for lavish medieval drama watch Dunk & Egg or the War of the Ninepenny Kings when they could watch The White Princess, Outlander, Vikings or The Last Kingdom? I know HBO is looking to cash in on GOT's success, but any spinoff will indirectly suffer from all the competition that has sprung up in response to GOT.

Yes, I agree. When you watch Vikings or Outlander you have no reference point because they are independent stories. But when you watch a spinoff, if you even do,you will think about the original series. Any spinoff will always be GoT that's not GoT and that's not a good start line with the popularity of GoT. The expectations are sky high and since there isn't an main story, people will abandon it at the first misstep. Good luck to them anyways. 

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Yes, horror of horrors, HBO, D&D and GRRM are all doing what they do for money!  Stop the Presses!  Look, if HBO didn't think that the shows would sell they wouldn't do them.  Do you think that they made "Band of Brothers" out of the goodness of their hearts?  And what, will they now sully GoT image to make more?  Get real folks, this is the real world.  GoT cost a lot to make.  And yes, HBO has made money off of it.  If they hadn't we wouldn't be sitting here waiting for Season 7&8,   And yes, GRRM has gotten rich, not just because of ASOIAF and GoT but also the licensed merchandise and the like. The only reason that we are waiting for Books 6&7 and Season 7&8 is because GoT and ASOIAF made money.  HBO would like to make more but I think that they know that they can't do that by putting just any old piece of garbage on the air.  They will go for quality. That's life and I say more power to them and him.

 

HBO has been known for turning out quality programming.  They look for quality stories and ideas.  They surround themselves with quality writers actors and production people.  I'm sure that any GoT spin-off isn't going to be "Joanie loves Chachie".  Now maybe it will be "Dany loves Jon"....just kidding.  GRRM has a ton of "historical works" that will work for prequels and no doubt he has an idea of what happens the day after whoever "wins" the Game of Thrones parks his or her behind in the iron chair.  And you know what?  Not every, in fact most development deals won't come to fruition (good news for all you haters/doubters out there).  Trust me, I had friends who were involved in "To Appomattox".  The Producers had writers and actors and musicians and a network and money people all attached and it still blew up.

 

So what's my point?  Well essentially that I think that if any of these happen they will be quality shows.  And making money along the way, well that's what keeps shows, good or bad, on the air.  So do I have a problem with people making money, no I don't.  As Don Barzini says in "The Godfather", "After all, we are not communists".

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2 hours ago, Byfort of Corfe said:

Yes, horror of horrors, HBO, D&D and GRRM are all doing what they do for money!  Stop the Presses!  Look, if HBO didn't think that the shows would sell they wouldn't do them.  

Yes, yes, yes. D&D pitched GOT to HBO as "The Sopranos [HBO's biggest success to date at the time] meets Middle-Earth [hugely successful film franchise]." And it worked.

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13 hours ago, Byfort of Corfe said:

Yes, horror of horrors, HBO, D&D and GRRM are all doing what they do for money!  Stop the Presses!  Look, if HBO didn't think that the shows would sell they wouldn't do them.  Do you think that they made "Band of Brothers" out of the goodness of their hearts?  And what, will they now sully GoT image to make more?  Get real folks, this is the real world.  GoT cost a lot to make.  And yes, HBO has made money off of it.  If they hadn't we wouldn't be sitting here waiting for Season 7&8,   And yes, GRRM has gotten rich, not just because of ASOIAF and GoT but also the licensed merchandise and the like. The only reason that we are waiting for Books 6&7 and Season 7&8 is because GoT and ASOIAF made money.  HBO would like to make more but I think that they know that they can't do that by putting just any old piece of garbage on the air.  They will go for quality. That's life and I say more power to them and him.

 

GRRM simply killed the books. That's my problem.

And now working on 2 of these "spin-offs" ?

WoW is released when?

As far as it's postponed forever I do have a problem. So I'll vote with my money

Not a cent for HBO and GRRM until the book is published.

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Guess we'll have to wait and see, but I just can't see 10 hour-long shows a year working.

If it was maybe 6 episodes and loosely based around Dunk & Egg (each of their tales to date could be double-episodes - just one per series), they would need another 4 episodes of 'buddies on the road' adventures, reflecting the world of Westeros at the time.  Occasional meetings with familiar ancestors (a rescue of 'Lady Lannister', encountering a band of prisoners travelling to the Wall etc etc) on their travels might be watchable.

I can't see an epic being dreamed up though.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Restless said:

GRRM simply killed the books. That's my problem.

And now working on 2 of these "spin-offs" ?

WoW is released when?

As far as it's postponed forever I do have a problem. So I'll vote with my money

Not a cent for HBO and GRRM until the book is published.

That's certainly your right.  As for me well, I've had plenty of entertainment reading the five current books and watching the 6 seasons on HBO, I'm looking forward to the next two.  Personally I don't think that GRRM owes me anything, neither do HBO or D&D.  I've received what I have paid for and that's enough for me.

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18 hours ago, Byfort of Corfe said:

That's certainly your right.  As for me well, I've had plenty of entertainment reading the five current books and watching the 6 seasons on HBO, I'm looking forward to the next two.  Personally I don't think that GRRM owes me anything, neither do HBO or D&D.  I've received what I have paid for and that's enough for me.

I don't think it's a sense of GRRM owing us anything. But a customer has the right to be disatisfied with a product or a product's lack of foreseeable release. So far I was dissatisfied with whatever DWDFFC was supposed to be and with the lack of WoW. I borrowed DWDFFC rather than buy them and don't really see myself ever purchasing them.

None of us have signed a contract when we bought GoT that we have to buy or like whatever GRRM produces or is involved with, or did we?

Personally I'm at a point where I don't even care about the books anymore and am ready to accept the TV Show as the ending to the tale. Sure it has its flaws (its horrible, horrible flaws) but it's not like the books are this flawless epitome of perfection some make them out to be. And for me WoW certainly doesn't warrant all those years of waiting for me. I mainly want it released so that all those book purists who are occupying the Nile over Jon's parentage can stop with their whining.

So yeah, wake me up when DoS shows up and I might, possibly, perhaps be mildly interested, until then I watch the show.

 

As for the spinoffs: I'd be [pretty exited for anything tha6t isn't a continuation of the current storyline.

I'd particularly love me some Dunk and Egg (but only if Duncan is played by a good looking actor!)

Robert's Rebellion would be alright.

But I would not want anything solely focused on the Night's Watch because 1) Ewww the Night's Watch ewwwwww 2) There's no women in pretty-pretty dresses on the wall and I like seeing gorgeous period costumes in fantasy and historical media. 3) The show would be under the delusion that the NW are the "good guys" or in any way admirable.

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1 hour ago, Orphalesion said:

I don't think it's a sense of GRRM owing us anything. But a customer has the right to be disatisfied with a product or a product's lack of foreseeable release. So far I was dissatisfied with whatever DWDFFC was supposed to be and with the lack of WoW. I borrowed DWDFFC rather than buy them and don't really see myself ever purchasing them.

None of us have signed a contract when we bought GoT that we have to buy or like whatever GRRM produces or is involved with, or did we?

Personally I'm at a point where I don't even care about the books anymore and am ready to accept the TV Show as the ending to the tale. Sure it has its flaws (its horrible, horrible flaws) but it's not like the books are this flawless epitome of perfection some make them out to be. And for me WoW certainly doesn't warrant all those years of waiting for me. I mainly want it released so that all those book purists who are occupying the Nile over Jon's parentage can stop with their whining.

So yeah, wake me up when DoS shows up and I might, possibly, perhaps be mildly interested, until then I watch the show.

 

As for the spinoffs: I'd be [pretty exited for anything tha6t isn't a continuation of the current storyline.

I'd particularly love me some Dunk and Egg (but only if Duncan is played by a good looking actor!)

Robert's Rebellion would be alright.

But I would not want anything solely focused on the Night's Watch because 1) Ewww the Night's Watch ewwwwww 2) There's no women in pretty-pretty dresses on the wall and I like seeing gorgeous period costumes in fantasy and historical media. 3) The show would be under the delusion that the NW are the "good guys" or in any way admirable.

I guess I'm pretty much like you.  I started on the books, I really didn't watch the show until S5 (I've since gone back and watched all the seasons).  Since then though I have become an "HBO fan".  The series just seems in many cases to be a tighter, better edited narrative.  I write myself and I feel that now, after 5 books of what IIRC GRRM had originally pitched as a 3 book story (his publishers talked him into expanding it) and now 5+ books in I think that he is absolutely ready to bail on the whole thing.  And so I'm perfectly okay with "series canon" overtaking and replacing "book canon".  I figure that if and when WoW comes out I'll buy it and read it but I don't think that I'll be standing in line to do it.  But if GRRM decided to just dump the whole ending and go with the series ending and move on to another series I'd be fine with that as well.

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I was delighted to hear the news, and not surprised one bit.  HBO would be crazy not to want a spin-off.

I think the sky's the limit, creatively speaking.  Practically very character in the series has a back story worth exploring.  Or, if the writers really wanted to throw caution to the wind, they could create an entirely new set of central characters with only passing references to the famous folks in GOT.

Or how about skipping ahead a generation to the future "Knights of Westeros" where we see Arya as an adult leading the knighthood against some new threat to the kingdom?  The possibilities are both endless and delightful.

I'm just so happy so many people love this universe as much as I do.  

 

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3 minutes ago, JaimeBrienneFan1216 said:

I was delighted to hear the news, and not surprised one bit.  HBO would be crazy not to want a spin-off.

I think the sky's the limit, creatively speaking.  Practically very character in the series has a back story worth exploring.  Or, if the writers really wanted to throw caution to the wind, they could create an entirely new set of central characters with only passing references to the famous folks in GOT.

Or how about skipping ahead a generation to the future "Knights of Westeros" where we see Arya as an adult leading the knighthood against some new threat to the kingdom?  The possibilities are both endless and delightful.

I'm just so happy so many people love this universe as much as I do.  

 

I wholeheartedly agree.  GRRM has created an entire World, complete with history.  There are so many things in the backstories that so many people want to see.  What was so special about Rhaegar that he could even melt Cersei's heart?  What was Robert like when he was a young, handsome, powerful man, that he could get so many to follow him?  What was Oberyn like as a young man, travelling the world as a soldier of fortune?  I would also like to see what happens after the great war with the others.

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Roberts rebellion is the obvious choice. Plenty of characters that the viewers know and love/hate, such as Eddard, Robert, Cercei, Jaimie, Barristan, Tywin, Walder Frey and Stannis, plus plenty of new and exiting characters (some we have allready seen briefly) such as Brandon, Rhaegar, Lyanna, Arthur Dayne, Aerys and Howland Reed.

If they start with something like the defiance of Duskendale, to show how Aerys decended into madness, there should be plenty of material for atleast a few seasons. 

 

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14 hours ago, TheHodorThatWasPromised said:

Roberts rebellion is the obvious choice. Plenty of characters that the viewers know and love/hate, such as Eddard, Robert, Cercei, Jaimie, Barristan, Tywin, Walder Frey and Stannis, plus plenty of new and exiting characters (some we have allready seen briefly) such as Brandon, Rhaegar, Lyanna, Arthur Dayne, Aerys and Howland Reed.

If they start with something like the defiance of Duskendale, to show how Aerys decended into madness, there should be plenty of material for atleast a few seasons. 

 

I´m still sceptical about that. It´s also quite straightforward and it´s pretty much organical part of the current ASOIAF/GOT events allready. I know I should not refer to opinions of people not present, but I also remember that guy Wimsey from Winteriscoming/Watchersonthewall who is always quite furious about this becouse he arguments while RR has plenty of plot, it has quite a little of "story" for character development and themes. 

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I'm sure most here ravenously follow GRRM's blog so I won't give any spoilers or anything regarding the delicious morsels he dropped tonight. Based on what he said, however, here are my guesses about the "successor shows":

1. Aegon's Conquest

2. Blackfyre Rebellion

3. Dance of Dragons

4. Andal Invasion

5. Doom of Valyria

I know that there probably hasn't been enough information revealed in any of the books or companion pieces about the Andal invasion or Doom of Valyria, but that doesn't mean GRRM hasn't already fleshed those events out quite a bit. Only time will tell which events the writers are focusing on, but I'm excited for anything. Westeros is just too damn interesting.

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I don't see it being spoilerish since it's not a book, it's on his blog. GRRM said it will not be Roberts rebellion. It will also not be a follow up to GOT. More of a prequel. He basically said Roberts rebellion is out because too much is known about it, the outcome etc. He also mentioned that there are now 5, not 4 story lines in the works. He tried to temper expectations because likely not all of them will actually get made.

And as always, he reminded fans that yes, he is still working on The Winds of Winter.

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What dbunting said. Various sites and social media platforms have picked it all up. He also said it's not Dunk & Egg either. I like the writers he's working with. I don't think any of them have been involved with fantasy before, so they're interesting picks to say the least. I've seen a lot of overreaction, esp by that abomination Huffpost, about "FIVE NEW SHOWS?!?!" and "WHAT A MONEYGRAB!!!" GRRM also reminded everyone that only time will tell if any or all will even get a pilot, let alone go to series. 

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On 5/15/2017 at 1:59 AM, a_hodoring_norseman said:

I'm sure most here ravenously follow GRRM's blog so I won't give any spoilers or anything regarding the delicious morsels he dropped tonight. Based on what he said, however, here are my guesses about the "successor shows":

1. Aegon's Conquest

2. Blackfyre Rebellion

3. Dance of Dragons

4. Andal Invasion

5. Doom of Valyria

I know that there probably hasn't been enough information revealed in any of the books or companion pieces about the Andal invasion or Doom of Valyria, but that doesn't mean GRRM hasn't already fleshed those events out quite a bit. Only time will tell which events the writers are focusing on, but I'm excited for anything. Westeros is just too damn interesting.

Another good one could be Nymeria's journey. Basically Battlestar Galactica in fantasy.

I'm not sure about the Andal Invasion. Would you focus only some parts of Westeros? The Andal invasions take place over centuries. Of course that would not stop HBO, they can take whatever piece from ASoIaF's history and make it as they see fit.

While I'm perfectly fine with no Dunk&Egg adaptation, based on stuff from The World of Ice and Fire, Aegon V's reign would have been a great choice. Plenty of intrigue and conflict, but without the CGI budget that the Dance of Dragons or Aegon's Conquest would require.

 

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