Game of Thrones: HBO ‘spent over $30million on pilot for scrapped prequel series’ starring Naomi Watts

Game of Thrones came to an end with season 8 in 2019 (Picture: HBO)

The pilot for the axed Game of Thrones prequel series reportedly cost a huge fortune to make despite never seeing the light of day, with HBO said to have dished out over $30million (£22.5million) on the episode.

In October 2019, the same year that Game of Thrones came to an end with season eight, it emerged that the spin-off Bloodmoon, set thousands of years previously, had been cancelled.

The show, for which a pilot had already been filmed, was to star Naomi Watts alongside John Simm, Miranda Richardson and Marquis Rodriguez.

According to a new book, that aforementioned pilot was extremely expensive to make, with former WarnerMedia chair Bob Greenblatt revealing the supposed figure.

The TV executive opened up about the episode in a new book titled Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers by James Andrew Miller, which tells the tale of the network and how it ‘how it burst onto the American scene’.

‘They had spent over $30m on a Game of Thrones prequel pilot when I got there,’ Bob said in the book, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Naomi binged all of Game of Thrones to prepare for the role (Picture: Desiree Navarro/WireImage)

‘And when I saw a cut of it in a few months after I arrived, I said to [HBO chief content officer] Casey [Bloys], “This just doesn’t work and I don’t think it delivers on the premise of the original series.” And he didn’t disagree, which actually was a relief.’

Bob stressed the ‘enormous pressure’ that surrounded ensuring that the project was done ‘right’, which didn’t end up playing to their favour.
‘So we unfortunately decided to pull the plug on it. There was enormous pressure to get it right and I don’t think it would have worked,’ he stated.

According to Entertainment Weekly, HBO declined to comment on the report.

While Bloodmoon was ditched, another prequel show, House of the Dragon, is set to premiere in the new year.

Emma plays Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Matt Smith stars as Prince Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon (Picture: Ollie Upton/HBO/PA)

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Starring actors including Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine and Rhys Ifans, the series is set around 200 years before the start of Game of Thrones, depicting House Targaryen during the height of their power.

With events in the fantasy set to lead to the Targaryen civil war, known as the ‘Dance of the Dragons’, fans are undoubtedly hoping for – and expecting – a fiery spectacle.

Metro.co.uk has contacted HBO for comment.

Game of Thrones is available to watch on Sky and NOW.

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