Not even author George R.R. Martin is allowed to see the canceled Game of Thrones spinoff prequel series pilot. Following the massive success of the fantasy-drama series, Martin sat down with HBO to discuss the possibility of creating various spinoff projects to capitalize on the Game of Thrones fame. However, one such series, Bloodmoon, did not fare well after its pilot was produced.

In June 2018, the pilot for the Game of Thrones spinoff series Bloodmoon was ordered by HBO. With X-Men: First Class writer Jane Goldman as its showrunner, S.J. Clarkson set to direct, and Naomi Watts starring, the pilot was greenlit with a $30 million price tag. Bloodmoon was set in the Age of Heroes, approximately 10,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and would have covered the creation of the most powerful houses of Westeros, the Long Night in which the White Walkers first ventured south, and the Andal Invasion. However, after viewing the pilot, HBO declined to move forward with the series.

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Per THR, not even George R.R. Martin is allowed to see the canceled pilot for the Game of Thrones prequel series Bloodmoon. Martin explained that Goldman did not have much to go on in regard to source material as the author had only written eight lines of text discussing the time period. He also detailed that the pilot dealt with "a much more primitive people" and contained no dragons, so the episode was focused on a wedding between members from Southern and Northern houses and the "history of the White Walkers." Read what HBO's chief content officer, Casey Bloys, and then former chairman of WarnerMedia, Robert Greenblatt, said about the pilot below.

Bloys: It required a lot more invention; it was higher risk, higher reward. There wasn’t anything glaringly wrong with it. Development and pilots are hard.

Greenblatt: It wasn’t unwatchable or horrible or anything. It was very well produced and looked extraordinary. But it didn’t take me to the same place as the original series. It didn’t have that depth and richness that the original series’ pilot did.

Map of Westeros and Essos

Bloys' comments reveal that there was considerable perceived risk with continuing the Bloodmoon series. As there was very little source material to go on, building a faithful story while maintaining the production values fans of Game of Thrones have grown to expect, most likely contributed to the studios apprehension. However, Greenblatt spoke to the tone of the pilot, saying that it did not match the quality of its predecessor.

Pilots of series are generally kept confidential and not released to the public following the cancellation of the show. Dozens of pilots can be shot in a given year with only a handful actually picked up for production. Of those produced pilots, only a few may ever see the light of day, such as a DVD bonus feature for a film spinoff as was the case with the L.A. Confidential pilot, or released as a standalone product as was the case with the Pryde of the X-Men animated pilot. With HBO even holding back the release of the original Game of Thrones pilot, audiences can only hope for Bloodmoon to ever be released to the public.

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Source: THR