Westeros

Deadline has a good their interview with Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer of HBO, touching on a number of their shows, such as The Pitt and Heated Rivalry (which they have licensed in the US and other territories, and whose performance they are very pleased by). But of particular interest to our fellow fans would be the extended discussion of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and other projects in development… and some remarks on George R.R. Martin’s involvement.

Biggest news for us? Deadline indicates, before diving into the interview, that it’s said that the legendary animator Genndy Tartakovsky—creator of the original Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack, and Primal—is attached to the Nine Voyages of the Sea Snake animated series about Corlys Velaryon. Interestingly, we know Ryan Condal is a big fan of Tartakovsky, and one wonders if he had any involvement in getting Tartakovsky on board.

Some choice pieces from the interview below.

A still from the Black Knight test Tartakovsky released on Instagram, a stalled Sony Pictures project.

On A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Bloys says that while the success of the show—with its smaller scale and budget than its predecessors—is great, that production scale is entirely lead by the creative side and the production follows from that. He’s confirmed not only that the 2nd season is under way (which we already new, cameras started rolling in December), but also reiterated that the show will be “annual”. So 2028 should see the third planned season.  Whether there’ll be more beyond that, remains to be seen.

On House of the Dragon, Casey Bloys was careful in his remarks regarding GRRM’s falling out with Ryan Condal over House of the Dragon, but admitted George had “stepped back” from season 3 of the show, which is very much the impression Martin gave in the James Hibberd-penned profile. Interestingly, he also notes this:

And I will tell you one of the reasons why [head of drama] Frannie [Orsi] and I really thought about the Knight of Seven Kingdoms as an interesting adaptation is, we had always heard and know that it was George’s favorite, that was meaningful to us.

This fits past reporting, that HBO pivoted to relying more on George’s instincts after the “Long Night” pilot failed.

Bloys was also asked about Ryan Condal having confirmed the 4th season would be the last, which flew against Bloys himself suggesting that there was no decision yet, but then the question is asked if the final season might be “supersized” and Bloys says that hasn’t been determined yet as they’re still wrapping up the 3rd season.

Finally, on the topic of Game of Thrones spin-offs, Deadline leads with the projects we’ve heard of: a proposed Jon Snow and Arya Stark sequel written by Quoc Dang Tran (first revealed by Hibberd), the animated Sea Snake project with Deadline revealing Tartakvosky’s alleged involvement, the 10,000 Ships by Pulitzer Award-winning playwright and actress Eboni Booth, and Aegon’s Conquest in development by Mattson Tomlin which Hibberd’s profile noted was a two-part project, one part developing for theatrical release and another as a series.