HBO’s untitled Naomi Watts-led “Game of Thrones” prequel pilot may not have Targaryens and dragons — but it does have Starks, direwolves and, of course, White Walkers.
“The Starks will definitely be there,” George R.R. Martin, co-creator and executive producer on the project alongside showrunner Jane Goldman, told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Tuesday.
“Obviously the White Walkers are here — or as they’re called in my books, The Others — and that will be an aspect of it,” the “A Song of Ice and Fire” author said, adding: “There are things like direwolves and mammoths.”
The appearance of the Starks, descendants of the First Men, shouldn’t be a shock to fans who remember the prequel — which is reportedly currently filming in North Ireland — takes place roughly 5,000 years before the events of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
And Martin says a lot of things are different back then, including the fact that the Lannisters won’t be around, because they don’t occupy Casterly Rock yet — and there are way more kingdoms in Westeros.
“We talk about the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros; there were Seven Kingdoms at the time of Aegon’s Conquest,” Martin told EW. “But if you go back further then there are nine kingdoms, and 12 kingdoms, and eventually you get back to where there are a hundred kingdoms — petty kingdoms — and that’s the era we’re talking about here.”
Though the prequel — which Martin calls an “ensemble” series — is still untitled, that hasn’t stopped the author from repeatedly calling it “The Long Night,” which we now know to be the title of a Season 8 episode of “Game of Thrones.” And that might complicate things a bit.
While he still can’t confirm the title, he told EW: “I heard a suggestion that it could be called ‘The Longest Night,’ which is a variant I wouldn’t mind. That would be pretty good.”