'Game Of Thrones' Prequel Series Set To Begin Production This Summer

The pilot for the as-yet-untitled Game of Thrones prequel has a production start date. The Game of Thrones prequel is set to begin filming this summer, as the highly anticipated series begins production on its pilot with Jessica Jones director S.J. Clarkson at the helm.

The long winter of waiting for a new Game of Thrones project is coming to an end. Or maybe it's just beginning? The Game of Thrones prequel series, which is set to take place thousands of years before the events of the hit HBO fantasy series, will begin production in early summer, HBO programming president Casey Bloys told Entertainment Weekly.

Details are still vague on the prequel's story, which was rumored to be titled The Long Night. The series takes "place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones" and  "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's 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."

Naomi Watts leads the Game of Thrones prequel cast, which includes Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth), Denise Gough (Broadway's Angels in America), Jamie Campbell Bower (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald), Georgie Henley (The Chronicles of Narnia), Sheila Atim (Harlots), Ivanno Jeremiah (Humans), Alex Sharp (How to Talk to Girls at Parties), and Toby Regbo (Reign).

The prequel is set to be an entirely different beast than HBO's hit show, with no Iron Throne, no Targaryens, and yes, no dragons. "Westeros is a very different place," George R.R. Martin recently described. "There's no King's Landing. There's no Iron Throne. There are no Targaryens — Valyria has hardly begun to rise yet with its dragons and the great empire that it built. We're dealing with a different and older world and hopefully that will be part of the fun of the series."

Most interestingly, there's no David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners of Game of Thrones, at the helm. With Clarkson directing the pilot and Jane Goldman taking the reigns as showrunner, the Game of Thrones prequel will be the first time the property has been primarily in the hands of women — a nice change after the series made some major missteps with women behind and in front of the camera.