HBO exec promises 'monumental' season of 'Game of Thrones,' teases prequels

(Sinclair Broadcast Group) — An HBO executive is clarifying the network’s plans for the final season and possible prequels of its hit series “Game of Thrones.”

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, HBO programming president Casey Bloys said “everything is on the table” in terms of format and timeline for any follow-up projects. For now, the priority is getting this year’s seventh season and the six-episode final season on the air.

“Making ‘Game of Thrones’ as good as possible is the No. 1 goal, and then we’ll see about these scripts,” Bloys said. “You’re not going to see a situation where the next show in the Thrones universe launches off the back of this one.”

The premium cable channel recently revealed that writers have been hired to develop four prequel ideas with input from Thrones author George R.R. Martin. No details about the characters or concepts of the projects have been released.

“You couldn’t do this with a lot of shows,” Bloys said. “In talking with the drama group here, and the nice thing is George has created an entire universe. The fact that there’s enough material to even contemplate making different prequels is crazy when you think about it. George has all these histories he’s thought about and that’s one reason why the books are so good.”

The seventh season of “Game of Thrones” premieres on July 16. Bloys called the first episode “amazing” and promised the season will be cinematic in scope.

“What they’re doing is monumental,” he said. “When you see these battles in season 7, and what I imagine season 8 will be, it’s a big, big show.”

That eighth season may air in 2018 or 2019, depending on when showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss complete the scripts.

“They have to write the episodes and figure out the production schedule,” Bloys said. “We’ll have a better sense of that once they get further into the writing.”