Five Game Of Thrones Prequels Are In The Works, But Won't Air Until 2020 At Least

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones is now confirmed for 2019, but HBO has no intention of saying goodbye to its hugely popular fantasy show. Last year it was reported that the channel was developing five spin-off shows simultaneously. Now programming president Casey Bloys has confirmed that they are all still in the works, but that fans shouldn't necessarily expect to see all of them reach the screen.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Bloys revealed that it would be 2020 at the earliest before we saw anything more from the Game of Thrones universe. "If we do a pilot and series, nothing is going to air on HBO until at least a year after the final season," he said. "We're not doing a final season and then, 'Following it at 11 pm...'"

"I've seen some exciting material," he continued. "We have really great writers working on these. But there's no timetable. Not everybody is on the same schedule, so I've seen different versions of different things. But there's no timetable about when a decision would be made about any of them. I'll do anywhere from zero to five, though probably more likely one. We'll see."

In November, it was reported that all five potential series would be prequels. Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin is writing one with the main show's co-executive producer Bryan Cogman, and updated fans about its progress on Tumblr.

"I can say that, like the other pilots, it will be a prequel rather than sequel, a successor rather than a spin-off," Martin said. "Bryan's series will be an adaptation, and one that will thrill most fans of the books, I think, set during a very exciting period of Westerosi history. And I'll be working with him every step of the way; we're going to be co-creating the show."

Earlier this month it was confirmed that the final season of Game of Thrones will be just six episodes long. Although we know it will arrive in 2019, a premiere date is yet to be announced. Seasons 1-6 all premiered in March or April on HBO, while Season 7 debuted this past July. If HBO follows either of those premiere windows, that will mark over a year-and-a-half since the previous season ended, which will be the longest gap between seasons in the show's entire run.