HBO programming president Casey Bloys revealed that 'Game of Thrones' prequel is moving with full speed and prior backlash from fans isn't slowing it down.
Bloys revealed during the HBO TCA press tour recently that despite some fans' negative reactions towards the final season of 'GoT', production for the upcoming prequel series was not affected by the backlash, reported People.
"It has not at all," shared Bloys.
"The shooting has wrapped, it looks really good, the cast was amazing," Bloys said of the prequel, which is set to take place nearly 5,000 years before the events of 'GoT'.
Bloys also added that the show is currently in the edit bay, and while he has not seen a finished cut of the episode, he said they are "looking forward" to seeing what comes of it.
After a remarkable 8-year-long journey, the show concluded earlier this year with its eighth and last season. While it was mostly a pleasant and seamless run, the last season of the show received a mixed reaction from the fans and critics.
Many disappointed fans even started a petition urging the makers to remake the last season of the series "with competent writers". The petition has garnered over 1.6 million signatures and, as Bloys explained, was not something HBO could have foreseen.
"I take all of the activity around the finale as, there are very, very few downsides to having a hugely popular show. One I can think of is when you try to end it, many people have opinions on how it should end. That comes with the territory. A petition shows a lot of enthusiasm and passion for the show, but it wasn't something we seriously considered," he said.
Despite the criticism, the series earned the most Emmy nominations in a single season of television in history, with 32 nods in total.
"I didn't dance, but I did enjoy it," Bloys said, calling the nominations a "certainly nice validation."
The executive also revealed how much input the network had on the last seasons, which is when the series no longer went off the storylines from author George R. R. Martin's novels.
"When a show, I'll speak generally ... when a show is in its sixth, seventh, eighth season of a highly successful run, there's a rhythm between showrunners and network and what they expect," Bloys said.
"There was minimal back and forth," he added, citing 'Silicon Valley' as another HBO series that also has minimal network intervention in its storylines.
The 'GoT' prequel began filming in Northern Ireland in June, and in an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this month, Martin revealed that the fan-favourite Stark family would definitely be around.
However, don't expect to see any Lannisters in Westeros 5,000 years back.
"The Lannisters aren't there yet, but Casterly Rock is certainly there," he said of the future Lannister homestead.
The prequel also predates dragons, but don't despair, because the author also promised other creatures will be featured.
"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 dire wolves and mammoths," Martin said.
The prequel will star Oscar nominee Naomi Watts, Naomi Ackie, and Denise Gough. Martin and Jane Goldman are the creators of the new series, with Goldman serving as the show-runner. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the show-runners of 'GoT' will not be involved.
A premiere date for the prequel series has not yet been announced, but according to Entertainment Weekly, Bloys previously said that it will not air until at least a year after the conclusion of GOT, which came in May.
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