WESTWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MAY 08: George R. R. Martin attends LA Special Screening of Fox Searchlight Pictures' "Tolkien" at Regency Village Theatre on May 08, 2019 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
TV - Movies
The Real Reason
The Game Of
Thrones Prequel
Bloodmoon Was
Scrapped
By CAROLYN JENKINS
Before the "Game Of Thrones" season finale aired, HBO greenlit a series tentatively titled "Bloodmoon," which would have depicted a time in Westeros known as The Long Night. Somewhat surprisingly, HBO ultimately opted to pass on the Naomi Watts-led prequel, and recently, its creators have come clean about just what made the project so doomed from the beginning.
The pilot covered a time long before the dragons, a world with which many "Game of Thrones" fans would be unfamiliar. Instead of going with what had been tested, creatives wanted something fresh and new, but unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
In fact, "Game of Thrones" creator George R.R. Martin himself expressed some doubt, admitting it was a "difficult assignment." He said, "We're dealing with a much more primitive people. There were no dragons yet. A lot of the pilot revolved around a wedding of a Southern house to a Northern house and it got into the whole history of the White Walkers."
The production spent $30 million dollars just on the pilot, but in the end, the studio executives ultimately decided that they needed something that evoked emotions similar to the most triumphant days of "Game of Thrones." HBO didn’t want new and refreshing but something tried and true.