George R.R. Martin didn’t mince words when discussing the fact that The Long Night is not moving forward at HBO.
The author behind the book series from which Game of Thrones was based, opened up on his blog about his frustration that the GoT prequel was not deemed fit for a full series order by HBO.
“It goes without saying that I was saddened to hear the show would not be going to series,” he wrote, adding, “Jane Goldman [creator of the pilot] is a terrific screenwriter, and I enjoyed brainstorming with her.”
The pilot was given the green light back in June 2018, while David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were still in the process of bringing Game of Thrones to its conclusion. The Long Night (which was the series’s working title) reportedly had a difficult time getting started. There were conflicts over the story, credits and between cast and crew members, which made HBO consider killing the show before it even shot a pilot. They ultimately moved forward with filming, because despite the network’s lukewarm feelings, the crew hoped it could be salvaged in post-production. Interestingly enough, GoT had experienced the same issues during the making of its pilot. It, after all, would have been quite a different show had it not been for special effects.
