It’s official people. The Arya Stark Game of Thrones spinoff series isn’t going to happen according to the big studio executives at HBO.
Game of Thrones came to an end last weekend when season 8’s finale aired and it was met with let’s say mixed reviews.
There’s a large section of the Game of Thrones fanbase who haven’t been very pleased with the way the show’s creators, David Benioff and B.D. Weiss took the show in the final two seasons.
It all felt a bit rushed as they tried to fit as much as they could in a handful of episodes. The result was a bit of a mess where characters made decisions that made no sense given their previous story arcs and there was a lot of teleporting people from one area to another, both literally and figuratively.
It was just a bit of a shame because it was one of the best shows on television, yet it will still go down as one of the great shows of our lifetime.
Arya Stark in Game of Thrones
However, after season 8’s finale was aired last weekend, people started to think about what was to come next, and naturally, there was talk of spinoffs.
We already know that there is a Game of Thrones spinoff in the works which George R.R. Martin himself is working on with the help of Kick-Ass and Kingsman: The Secret Service’s scriptwriter, Jane Goldman.
Goldman pitched the idea to HBO executives, along with four other Game of Thrones-related ideas, and The Long Night was the one they went for.
They’re currently working on the pilot episode which will star Noami Watts in the lead.
However, people have floated the idea of an Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) spinoff series, including her fellow Game of Thrones star, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who took to Instagram to propose the idea.
Maise Williams as Arya Stark
However, programming president Casey Bloys recently talked to The Hollywood Reporter and revealed that it would be an impossible feat to do an Arya spinoff series. This is what he had to say about it:
“I understand where that comes from, I totally get it. But in terms of wanting to be careful not overdoing it or not killing the goose that lays the golden egg, [showrunners] Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff]’s show as it stands in eight seasons, I want to leave it as it’s own work of art and not have shows directly, having Arya do that. I think it’s best to try the prequels in other areas of George [R.R. Martin]’s massive universe — just feels like the right thing to do, let the show stand on its own.”
He then addressed the actual Game of Thrones spinoff, The Long Night, and whether or not they’ll make other series set in the same universe. To cut a long quote short, it doesn’t look likely. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:
“I doubt it, I don’t think so. I certainly do not want to overdo it. We have so many varied shows coming up in 2019 and ’20 and even into ’21. I think Game of Thrones is a fantastic property but I don’t want to just be the home of prequels and sequels and all that stuff. I think you want to be really careful about how you do it. That’s why we’ve been working on the Jane pilot for a long time, because we want to do it right. I think the last thing fans would want is something that was rushed out just to make it to air.”
I do understand where they are coming from. And I agree that not overdoing it is the right way to go. Let’s just see how this planned prequel series will do and build from there.
Meanwhile, why not have a read of our article on the 5 ways Game of Thrones season 8 dropped the ball, and the 5 movies you should watch if you still think Robert Pattinson won’t be a good Batman.
Game of Thrones is available to stream via Sky Now, or you could do us a massive favour and purchase it on Amazon and we’ll get a kickback! Always appreciated.
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