GAME OF THRONES has finished, the original TV series anyway, and if you were left, like most of us, with an unsatisfying sense of ‘what if?’ following last month’s finale, then don’t worry, because another winter is coming.
The show is currently untitled, but Game Of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has speculatively been referring to a potential prequel show as ‘The Long Night’.
It’s due to be set around 5,000 before the beginning of the original series we all know and (kind of) love.
The #GameofThrones #Prequel started shooting a couple of days ago - and there is a large outside set at #TitanicStudios in #Belfast that has a tree with very familiar looking red leafs. #Bloodmoon #TheLongNight #GOTPrequel
Might interest you, @javimgol, you old set-sneaker ;) pic.twitter.com/3RP8QnIFaP— Heritage Of Westeros (@GoT_heritage) June 23, 2019
HBO have already begun production, and just like before, much of the filming is taking place in Northern Ireland.
A teaser image for the new show has been released by HBO featuring a mysterious looking character on horse-back overlooking a frosty landscape with a city - which looks an awful lot like Winterfell it must be said - in the background.
Game of Thrones prequel starts filming (and in a familiar location) https://t.co/pu1R3z7gNJ
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) June 18, 2019
It’s no surprise therefore that the Northern Irish landscape would remain a good fit for them.
It’s rumoured that much of the current production is taking place in the woods, marshes and highlands of Co. Fermanagh, and based on this photograph posted by Tourism Ireland US, it isn’t hard to understand why.
Hello, paradise... ❤️
MT @galavantireland Cuilcagh Boardwalk, County Fermanagh pic.twitter.com/tW3DYr25PZ— Tourism Ireland US (@GoToIrelandUS) June 20, 2019
HBO has teased the plot of the new series, with the line: “Only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend … it’s not the story we think we know.”
Hmm, curious.
Martin has hinted in the past that a prequel show would come with a few surprises, unrecognisable to fans of the original show.
“Westeros is a very different place. There’s no King’s Landing. There’s no Iron Throne. There are no Targaryens - Valyria has hardly begun to rise yet with its dragons and the great empire that it built. We’re dealing with a different and older world and hopefully that will be part of the fun of the series,” he said.
