Though he should be hard at work finishing up the Song of Ice and Fire book series, Game of Thrones mastermind George R.R. Martin recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly. In the interview, he revealed some pretty exciting details for the upcoming Thrones prequel.
Set 5,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the prequel series has yet to receive a title. But, Martin gave credence to one of the rumored titles of the show. “I heard a suggestion that it could be called The Longest Night,” the author said. “Which is a variant I wouldn’t mind. That would be pretty good.”
He continued, revealing that the new series will have some things which appeared, or were hinted at, in the series and even a certain winter-obsessed northern house. “The Starks will definitely be there. Obviously, the White Walkers are here — or as they’re called in my books, The Others — and that will be an aspect of it. There are things like direwolves and mammoths.”
Martin continued, detailing that more than a few things will be pretty different from the Westeros we’ve come to know. “The Lannisters aren’t there yet,” Martin said. “but Castlery Rock is certainly there; it’s like the Rock of Gibraltar. It’s actually occupied by the Casterlys — for whom it’s still named after in the time of Game of Thrones…We talk about the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros; there were Seven Kingdoms at the time of Aegon’s Conquest. 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.”
Martin was pretty vocal about his desire for the original series to run longer but ultimately it seemed like his voice wasn’t being heard as much by the writers and producers. He’s likely not involved very much in the minutiae of writing and producing the show day in and day out. But, the way he’s talking about the prequel makes me think his opinion and insight is really being taken into account here. And, hearing what he’s had to say about what to expect, I think we can take Naomi Watts’ comments on the prequel a little bit more seriously.
