The Game of Thrones series finale might have left fans a little — okay, a lot — disappointed, but that doesn’t change the fact that the HBO epic show was one of the most popular and highly anticipated television events of all time.
If there’s anything we know about wildly popular and successful television shows, it’s that they leave entertainment executives eyeing spinoffs. Getting fan buy-in and interest in a series is sometimes just as hard as creating compelling content, so it makes sense that HBO would want to capitalize on the expansive existing Game of Thrones fan base as they look to creating new shows.
Still, even successful TV shows have brought us some disappointing spinoffs, and with the finale so thoroughly panned, the Game of Thrones efforts are going to have to be carefully navigated. HBO has set its sights on at least four potential series stemming from the original, and here’s what we know so far.
‘Game of Thrones’ had immense popularity
HBO is no stranger to massive television hits. The Sopranos helped define the antihero that has continued to crop up again and again across recent television. True Blood may have been polarizing, but it certainly had a dedicated fan base. The Wire, Sex and the City, and Westworld are all shows from HBO that managed to break new ground and cause quite a stir across the creative industry.
Still, there’s nothing quite like Game of Thrones when it comes to finding viewership across a wide range of audiences. At its height, the show was averaging 30 million viewers per episode, and the series was a tremendous draw for subscribers to HBO’s streaming platform. Recapturing that magic spark and reaping the benefits of dedicated viewers is well worth experimentation with spinoffs.
Rumored ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoffs are prequels
Spinoffs can take many forms. Often, a spinoff will pick up where the original left off. Sometimes — like in the case of Angel and Buffy — the series will run concurrently and even have crossover episodes. Obviously Game of Thrones has concluded, and that limits some directions a spinoff could take. However, the sprawling series had so many components that there’s a nearly bottomless well of potential content.
With dozens of named characters each representing regions with their own histories and conflicts, a spinoff could be only tangentially related to the source material and take a whole new direction to the Game of Thrones universe. At the same time, plenty of tales were left untold as the series concluded. Could we follow Arya’s adventure beyond the wall? Could we see whether Jon Snow stays with the Night’s Watch or heads out with the Wildlings?
Possibilities abound, but the spinoffs getting the most attention all seem to be prequels. These stories mine the deep history and lore of Game of Thrones by looking to its distant and recent past.
‘Game of Thrones’ spinoffs are in different stages
As ET reports, a few potential spinoffs have been getting the most attention. All are prequels, but they focus on different elements and are at various stages of the creative process. Two of these projects seem to be in the very early stages. They have no writers or showrunners, and we only have the working titles — Flea Bottom and 10,000 Ships.
A third potential prequel, however, seems to be further along. This show is called 9 Voyages and “would focus on Lord Corlys Velaryon, known as The Sea Snake, a legendary nautical adventurer in the olden days of Westeros.” The series is being developed by Bruno Heller, who co-created Rome. The Sea Snake is a character who appears in another prequel called House of the Dragon. This series is also further along and is set to begin recording soon.
It’s worth noting that series in these early stages are notoriously volatile, and things could change. However, with so many possible spinoffs in the works, it’s likely that at least a few of them will come to fruition. After that, it will be up to the fans to decide their fate.
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