Would you rather watch The Long Night or Empire of Ash when it comes to post-Game of Thrones viewing? Rumors suggest the latter is also likely to see pilot.
How does something that rather resembles Rome and Game of Thrones combined sound for a post-Game of Thrones spinoff or prequel series? According to new rumors picked up by Watchers on the Wall and originally coming from the Game of Thrones wiki, that’s what another of the series in development over at HBO currently looks like.
(Granted, the original report itself also refers to the Roman civilization, but yours truly couldn’t pass the opportunity to mention two HBO shows in one go up.)
If that name sounds like it could be referring to Valyria, you’d be right. Reports from the wiki indicate that creator Max Borenstein has a very well-fleshed-out project that “seems to be planned out to last five seasons or more,” which could appeal to HBO. After all, Westworld often takes a year between seasons. A consistently-produced big-budget show for multiple years could seem like a safe bet to keep HBO’s dominance of the sci-fi/fantasy genre going into a second decade. Moreover, this includes a rumor that Miguel Sapochnik will direct the pilot.
But there are other interesting tidbits hidden in the rumors as well that have to do with the show itself. The report has it that Empire of Ash could be far less white and heterosexual than Game of Thrones. Here are just a few of the details:
"This also extends to diversity of female and LGBT characters, several of whom are also core cast members.[…]One of the main characters, a POV core cast member, is a platinum blonde black female dragon-rider – one of her parents was a white Valyrian, the other a foreigner, leading some to deny that she’s a “real” Valyrian."
While it doesn’t have official confirmation yet, these are positive signs. Whatever follows Game of Thrones doesn’t necessarily have to be exactly like Game of Thrones in every respect. On top of all of this, though, Empire of Ash just sounds cool, if you’ll excuse the puns. It follows the title formatting of Game of Thrones, has a tie with the use of Empire in relation to Thrones, and it also hints at the inevitable Doom. Of course, the Doom itself should appear, per the rumors, but probably not in season 1 for obvious reasons.
Ultimately, this series has a lot going for it. With the Targaryens and dragons to lure more casual fans of Game of Thrones in and allegedly a lot of lore for hardcore theorists to chew on, Empire of Ash seems tailor-made to keep things going for the franchise. We agree with both of our sources: this seems like a more interesting series on the whole so far.
Next: Game of Thrones' spinoff could return to Belfast
Here’s hoping official confirmation comes soon.