What We Know So Far About The Game Of Thrones Spin-offs

Written by Laura Chung

With Game Of Thrones drawing to a close next year and a no less than five spin-off series based in the same world announced (one rumoured to be shelved for the time being), fans are wildly speculating as to what they might be about.

The show, however, is notoriously famous for its well-guarded secrets, and it looks like these spin-offs are no different. So, here’s what we know so far about the spin-offs

None of the spin-offs will feature characters that we’ve become familiar with from GoT.

We’ve heard rumours about this since early in the game, however, with more details emerging as HBO ordered a pilot for the first series, it looks like this is a certainty. This occurred early last month for a prequel that takes place some 10,000 years before the events taking place in GoT, and George R. R. Martin himself has mentioned that the other four series will also take place well before the events in GoT.

The first spin-off “chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour”, according to HBO.

The quote above is taken directly from a HBO announcement, and when you pair it with a name that Martin suggested for the series, The Long Night, there’s huge potential for its storyline.

The Long Night is an era notorious for the appearance of the White Walkers, which subsequently pushed the Children of the Forest and the First Men down to the south part of the Westerosi continent. From this information, we could be looking at storylines involving the creation of the first White Walker, to the rise of the legendary hero Azor Ahai, to the Battle for the Dawn, where the first members of the Night’s Watch rode against the Others to end The Long Night. Or, alternatively, we could even be looking at the invasion of the Andals into Westeros – the possibilities are near endless.

HBO also says it will not be “the story we think we know”.

The events during the era of the Age of Heroes were not documented, but instead passed down generations as oral histories to become myths and legends. We may find out that the tales that we have been told about figures like Bran the Builder, Lann the Clever and Azor Ahai didn’t quite happen the way that we and the characters in GoT think they did.

The first spin-off will be written by Jane Goldman.

If there are two things that we know Jane Goldman is good at, it’s creating amazing adapted screenplays and fantastic prequels to already-existing works. Goldman has worked on incredible films including Stardust (2007), Kick-Ass (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017). If that isn’t enough, George R. R. Martin has come out with nothing but praise for Goldman, so it looks like the series is in good hands. The writers of the other series have been announced and are: Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla), Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Legend), Carly Wray (Mad Men, The Leftovers, Constantine, Westworld) and Bryan Cogman (who has written and produced a number of episodes in GoT).

But all these titbits of information and speculation aside, whatever the stories that the spin-offs decide to explore (and whether there are dragons or not), we are sure to be in for an exhilarating ride.