If you're one of the million-plus people that signed the petition requesting Game of Thrones season eight be rewritten, you're probably not going to like what HBO programming president Casey Bloys just told The Hollywood Reporter: the narratives of the show's characters will not be revised, rewritten, or updated.
"Nope, nope, nope," Bloys said when asked whether there will ever be a spin-off sequel about Arya Stark's or any other character's future adventures, before adding an extra "No" to really hammer the point home.
"I don't want to take characters from this world that [showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] did beautifully and put them off into another world with someone else creating it," Bloys added. "I want to let it be the artistic piece they've got. That's one of the reasons why I'm not trying to do the same show over.
"George [R.R. Martin] has a massive, massive world; there are so many ways in. That's why we're trying to do things that feel distinct — and to not try and redo the same show. That's probably one of the reasons why, right now, a sequel or picking up any of the other characters doesn't make sense for us."
Instead, HBO is focusing on a prequel series. And while Bloys gave nothing away about that, he did reveal that the first pilot will be shot in June. "There are two more [potential Game of Thrones spin-offs] in development and beyond that, there's nothing else to report," he said.
And his view on the final season? "I think they did a beautiful job. You just have to accept that not everybody is going to agree with the choices."
