After recently confirming that Game of Thrones won’t return for its eighth and final season until 2019, HBO has now dashed fans’ hopes of getting a prequel series in the meantime.
While speaking at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour on Thursday, HBO programming president Casey Bloys explained that the network plans to let at least one full year pass following Thrones‘ conclusion before debuting any spin-off.
“They’re moving along,” he told Entertainment Weekly of the five potential successor shows. “We have some really talented writers working on them. The one thing I will tell you, which we talked about before, any sort of pilot-to-series [order], there’s not going to be anything on our air for a least a year after Game of Thrones airs. We’re not using the final season to launch a new show or anything like that. There’s going to be a separation between the two. These are among the best writers working and I’m hopeful.”
Five different writers are working on the five ideas that are being developed: Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island), Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Golden Circle), Brian Helgeland (Legend), Carly Wray (Mad Men, The Leftovers) and Bryan Cogman (Thrones co-executive producer). Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, as well as A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, will also be attached to the projects.
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Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com