Mulholland Drive star Naomi Watts has joined the Game of Thrones prequel series in the lead role, according to several media outlets including Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. While details about Watts’ character are still being kept under wraps, the 50-year-old actress will reportedly play “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret.”
Although Game of Thrones prequel series is still in the early stages of development, HBO has fast-tracked the project in recent months. Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kick-Ass) and A Song of Ice and Fire writer George R.R. Martin are writing the show with the network actively searching for a director. The filming should begin in early 2019.
While plenty of details about Game of Thrones prequel remain unknown, HBO recently released a description of the series’ storyline:
“Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, 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.”
It is important to note that HBO has only ordered a pilot and hasn’t committed to making a full series yet. In case that Game of Thrones prequel pilot ends up getting greenlit, we shouldn’t expect to see it before 2020. The network’s executives said on previous occasions that the follow-up series to Game of Thrones wouldn’t find its way to television “at least a year” after the original show airs its eighth and final season.
Final episodes of GoT are set to premiere in the first half of 2019.
