Why HBO Says They Won't Do Any 'Game of Thrones' Sequels

HBO's Programming President, Casey Bloys, has been inundated with questions concerning the possibility of Game of Thrones sequels. There has been a lot of buzz especially about continuing with a spinoff of Maisie Williams' character, Arya Stark, as she explores the worlds where "the maps stop."

Bloys has some good news and some bad news for Game of Thrones fans who are grieving the end of the series. The bad news is that no, there will be no Arya Stark sequel. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bloys says on the subject:

"Nope, nope, nope. No. Part of it is, I do want this show — this Game of Thrones, [showrunners] Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff]'s show — to be its own thing. I don't want to take characters from this world that they did beautifully and put them off into another world with someone else creating it."

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The good news, however, is that A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin says there are three prequels in the works, one as a pilot expected to be filmed this summer and two in their script-stage. But for fans who are attached to the characters they fell in love with over the series' eight seasons, these prequels are not going to be a direct spinoff of Game of Thrones itself. Bloys adds:

"We're trying to have a show that feels like its own show within the universe but we're not trying to replicate the same show. It's not the same characters, it's not the same dynamics."

Bloys doesn't offer more information than that in regards to expanding Martin's world through HBO. But chances are the spinoffs will be good, even if they're a departure from the Thrones world viewers have come to love. Bloys knows that Martin's creative imagination is so strong that anything that comes out of his storytelling will likely be a success, so the network doesn't need to rely on what's been done already. "George has a massive, massive world; there are so many ways in," Bloys says. "That's why we're trying to do things that feel distinct — and to not try and redo the same show."

We'll be waiting eagerly for any news about the upcoming prequels.