According to a new book, HBO spent $30 million on the pilot for the aborted ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel ‘The Long Night.’
Journalist James Andrew Miller’s book ‘Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers’ offers one significant financial tidbit. It is about the first abandoned ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel series.
According to many media sources at the time, HBO spent a whopping sum on a pilot episode. The show isn’t anticipated to see the light of day, according to an official working for the firm.
Former WarnerMedia executive Bob Greenblatt says in the book, “They had spent over $30 million on a ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel pilot that was in production when I got there.”
“And when I saw a cut of it in a few months after I arrived, I said to [HBO boss Casey Bloys], ‘This just doesn’t work and I don’t think it delivers on the promise of the original series.’ And he didn’t disagree, which actually was a relief.”
The pilot of the unreleased ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel was said to have been shot in Northern Ireland in 2019. But it eventually dropped. HBO did, however, reveal that a new series. ‘Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon,’ has got the green light.
Steve Conrad has been appointed as the writer and executive producer of a second spinoff series dubbed ‘Dunk & Egg’. It premiered this week. HBO is also likely working on two animated shows set on the ‘Thrones’ realm.