The first Game of Thrones spinoff has just been confirmed

But how does the original series end first?!?!

Cue the Game of Thrones theme song, we’re heading back to Westeros. Although the final season of the series may be a painfully long way off, we could be getting more Thrones-based entertainment till then because a prequel to the HBO show is moving forwards.

There’s been big rumours that Game of Thrones spin-off shows were in the works (five to be exact) and now, we know at least one of them is going to be on our radar. George R. R. Martin, the author of the original series, revealed that HBO had ordered a pilot for a series written by Jane Goldman, a.k.a. the kickass Hollywood screenwriter behind the Kingsman movies, Stardust, the upcoming Little Mermaid film and - well - Kickass.

As to whether or not we’d be seeing our favourite characters? Unfortunately not, George clarified.

He wrote in a blog post, ‘Yes, this is a prequel, not a sequel. None of the characters or actors from GAME OF THRONES will appear in the new show. All of the successor shows we’ve been developing have been prequels, as I have mentioned before.’

Okay, a little heartbreaking but we’re still here for it. The character development in Thrones is so impressive that we don’t doubt we’ll both love and hate whoever else pops up in King’s Landing. However, Westeros might even be totally unrecognisable as the show is set literally thousands of years in the past.

He said, ‘This one really puts the PRE in prequel, since it is set not ninety years before GAME OF THRONES (like Dunk & Egg), or a few hundred years, but rather ten thousand years (well, assuming the oral histories of the First Men are accurate, but there are maesters at the Citadel who insist it has only been half that long).’

Don’t get too attached just yet though, as HBO has only ordered a pilot of the untitled Thrones show - meaning that they haven’t green-lit the whole series. It’d probably depend on how the pilot turns out. Given that the order literally just came in, they still need to work out all the logistics: a director, cast, location - even the name of the show.

According to Newsarama, the logline for the pilot reads: ‘Taking place thousands of years before the events of egan, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend … it’s not the story we think we know.’

OMINOUS. Consider our interest piqued.

Regarding the other potential shows, George also gave us a little update. He said, ‘If you have been following along, you know that we started with four, and eventually went to five. One of those has been shelved, I am given to understand, and of course Jane’s pilot is now moving to film. But that does not mean the others are dead.

Three more GAME OF THRONES prequels, set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, remain in active development. Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come. We do have an entire world and tens of thousands of years of history to play with, after all. But this is television, so nothing is certain.’

It sounds like HBO’s taking a cue from the series and re-enacting a real life Game of Thrones situation behind the scenes. Only a couple of spin offs can sit on the Iron Throne. Valar Morgulis.