Although he didn’t give too much away, Casey Bloys’ latest interview further tempered expectations for HBO’s Game of Thrones plans.
For Game of Thrones fans, the latest interview with Casey Bloys (also known as HBO’s president of programming) might seem a bit like a let-down. For one, he didn’t tell The Hollywood Reporter much at all in terms of positive news or really confirming anything. Instead, the overall picture is one of carefully balancing information.
Let’s start by digging into what he had to say about the spin-off shows. THR asked how many projects there are, exactly.
Bloys’s response:
"“I have a deal for four spinoffs right now with four writers.”"
As THR‘s own question notes, the fifth actually was confirmed by George R.R. Martin, not HBO or Bloys himself, and at the time, in the blog post in question, Martin noted that that fifth person did not have an agreement yet. Bloys’ wording makes it sound like that still hasn’t been set in stone yet.
Even if it has, would you expect him to confirm it on an interview publishing less than a week from the premiere of season 7? He also said the following:
"“We were just confirming [the four known projects] so people didn’t speculate.”"
As people have proceeded to speculate about all sorts of things with regard to any new Game of Thrones-related material, including on this very website … more than once, I’d say that’s kind of a bust. It would probably backfire again if his official word was that the fifth spinoff did exist, for the reasons mentioned above. Right now, I suspect Bloys wants all eyes on “Dragonstone,” not anything else.
Well, more accurately, he wants the bulk of the attention to go to Game of Thrones, because he also said that the show will end before one of these series potentially begins. He actually said, when asked if a prequel could beat season 8 to the screen, “No. Absolutely not. No way.” About the only way he could be more emphatic would be to say it in High Valyrian or Dothraki.
At the very end of the interview, though, he lays it all out there:
"“I want to be mindful of overdoing it. I look at this universe as very precious resource [sic]. I do not want to overexploit it.”"
Indeed, the overall effect of this interview is that Bloys is taking all of this very, very seriously and doesn’t want to build fans’ hopes up too far. He did take some time to mention HBO’s other quote-unquote “genre” projects, like Lovecraft Country and Westworld. Of course, he called them part of the “drama slate,” but those are shows that might have a certain appeal for a Game of Thrones audience, the same audience that probably pored over this entire interview. Why? Well, he did point out the following:
"“But I do not see a scenario where we have more than one [show worthy of following Game of Thrones].”"
He’s not saying “there can be only one,” but it kind of feels like it, doesn’t it?
Next: GoT's outside spinoff pitch
And if there is one, but it doesn’t get quite the desired response, he has to try and make sure people come back.