We're less than a month away from the premiere of House of the Dragon but some people are still wondering about the first Game of Thrones spin-off series that was ultimately cancelled by HBO. After all, the show boasted of an all-star cast that included Naomi Watts and Stranger Things actor Jamie Campbell Bower, and a big-budget pilot had already been shot before the network decided to pull the plug on the project.
So what exactly happened to Bloodmoon, the Game of Thrones prequel that almost happened but never came to be? An in-depth report by The Hollywood Reporter dives deep into the Game of Thrones spin-offs and offers more details about the cancelled series.
According to the report, a Bloodmoon pilot was shot for a whopping $30 million to $35 million but it has been hidden away where no one could find it, not even A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin. Still, the people who were involved with the project insist the cancellation had little to do with the content.
“It required a lot more invention; it was higher risk, higher reward,” HBO's Casey Bloys said. “There wasn’t anything glaringly wrong with it. Development and pilots are hard.”
Robert Greenblatt, who is the former WarnerMedia chairman, agrees with Bloys. “It wasn’t unwatchable or horrible or anything. It was very well produced and looked extraordinary. But it didn’t take me to the same place as the original series. It didn’t have that depth and richness that the original series’ pilot did,” he said.
Bloodmoon took place during the fabled Age of Heroes and the wintry apocalypse known as The Long Night in A Song of Ice and Fire. For now, it is unclear if we'll ever get to see any footage from the pilot. In the meantime, House of the Dragon premieres on HBO on August 21, 2022.
Related: House of the Dragon Showrunner Teases Daenerys Connection With New Targaryen Sigil
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