Now that the biggest and most streamed television show of ALL TIME is finally over, whatever will we do with our sad lives?
We've got no more character deaths to mourn, no more badass dragon 'Dracarys' moments, and no more twists and fan theories to obsess over. All seems lost.
Never fear, Game of Thrones fanatics, for a prequel series has already begun filming in Belfast. That's right: Bloodmoon is coming. Here's everything you need to know…
While George RR Martin still hasn't written the last two books (for the love of God, hurry up), he's been working on the much-anticipated prequel which was tentatively called, The Long Night but later became Bloodmoon.
HBO’s programming president Casey Bloys told the Hollywood Reporter last year, “We’re shooting the pilot in June.”
“This is a pilot, so we’re doing it the old-fashioned way, which is shooting a pilot. My expectation is it will be great."
Fans have spotted parts of the set popping up around Belfast at The Paint Hall in the Titanic Quart, and it looks absolutely amazing.
The Paint Hall was once where the component parts of ships were painted in climate controlled conditions, according to inews.co.uk, and the same studio was used to shoot many of GOT's renowned interior shots.
Game of Thrones author George RR Martin claims the premise is set some 10,000 years before the events of current GOT times, and "really puts the 'pre' in prequel."
"Since it is set not 90 years before Game of Thrones, or a few hundred years, but rather ten thousand years.” The show will begin during the Age of Heroes, and chronicles how the world descended into darkness.
Bloodmoon follow's the continent's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. The period is named for the men and women who lives in the years of peace after the First Man and Children of the Forest signed a pact.
From the horrifying history of Westeros to the origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries and secret legends are set to be spine-chilling. The Children of the Men created the White Walkers, so both groups will presumably play a strong role in the show.
Among the heroes of the time are Bran the Builder, who built the famous Wall and Winterfell, and founded House Stark. Lann the Clever, who started the Lannister bloodline, will also be involved.
Around 8,000 years before Aegon I Targaryen conquered Westeros, the Long Night took place. During the Age of Heroes, this brutal winter lasted a generation and the White Walkers came into existence.
Fan faves may be making an appearance in younger form, but Martin dispelled this myth in his blog posts;
"Nnone of the characters or actors from Game of Thrones will appear in the new show." It's all new characters for us to enjoy, and Casey Bloys also confirmed that this world will be entirely different.
“I want the original Game of Thrones to be its own thing. I don’t want to take characters from this world that they did beautifully and put them off into another world with someone else creating it."
“George has a massive, massive world; there are so many ways in. That’s why we’re trying to do things that feel distinct — and to not try and redo the same show.”
The actors who have already been cast in the show are definitely ones to watch, we're so excited to see what their characters will bring:
Naomi Watts is heading the new cast, and the English actress is set to play “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret”.
Naomi Ackie has also been cast, who is most known for her role in 2016's Lady Macbeth and will feature in the next instalment of the Star Wars saga: Episode IX
Irish actress Denise Gough will also be included, and Jamie Campbell Bower of Fantastic Beasts fame.
He is known for roles in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Caius in The Twilight Saga, and the young Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter's spin-off franchise.
Ivanno Jeremiah (Humans, Black Mirror), George Henley (The Chronicles of Narnia), Alex Sharp (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), Toby Regbo (Mr. Nobody, The Last Kingdom) and Sheila Atim (Twelfth Night) have also been confirmed for the prequel.
Many of the actors are relatively new on the scene, so these roles could be the making of their careers. George RR Martin is creating the series in collaboration with Jane Goldman.
Goldman is familiar with most people for her writing work on films such as X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass and the Kingsman franchise. They wrote the tale together and will executive-produce, with Goldman writing the teleplay.
Vince Gerardis, who executive-produced Game of Thrones, is also signed on to help with Bloodmoon, which isn't the only GOT spin-off in the pipeline.
It's rumoured that three more are reportedly in pre-production, but Brian Cogman's prequel is not going ahead. George R.R. Martin also shared his massive workload with fans;
“I’ve got five shows in development at HBO (some having nothing whatsoever to do with the world of Westeros), two at Hulu, one on the History Channel,” he said. “I’m involved with a number of feature projects, some based upon my own stories and books, some on material created by others."
“There are these short films I am hoping to make, adaptations of classic stories by one of the most brilliant, quirky, and original writers our genre has ever produced.”
In terms of when it might air, HBO's Casey Bloys told the Hollywood Reporter, “You can do the math and figure out when it would be on the air.” Translation: Not for a while.
“What I’m not doing is working backwards by saying, ‘This has to be on the air by this date,'” he said. “We want to do the best show possible. I don’t want to speculate any dates.”
This will be a vision of us awaiting Bloodmoon, settled into dust while our watch continues. Set your calendar for about five years' time, we suspect.
Feature image: Twitter/@WightsKing
