House of the Dragon may be nearing its Season 2 debut, but it wasn’t the first spinoff planned Game of Thrones. That honor belongs to a show with the code name Bloodmoon, which was supposed to be about the Long Night — that is, before HBO canceled it shortly after the pilot was completed. It was long assumed that we would never see anything from that series. However, this weekend hair and makeup designer Flora Moody posted on Instagram the first real look at the canceled series.
First Look at Naomi Watts in the Pilot Episode of HBO’s Canceled ‘BLOOD MOON’ #Game of Thrones prequel series.
The pilot reportedly revolved around a wedding between a Stark and a Casterly, which took place on Casterly Rock. pic.twitter.com/4htFRbSJsg
— westerosies (@westerosies) February 2, 2024
The post shows a short production shot of Naomi Watts, who would star in the series, standing in a large room looking regal. Presumably the series would have focused on a Stark marrying a Casterly (probably Watts), so it’s possible this short sequence was set in Casterly Rock before it was under Lannister control. We also know that the show would have delved into the history of the White Walkers. George RR Martin has no supporting text or information for that so far, which apparently is a major stumbling block for the series.
Of course, what the series would have been about doesn’t matter much anymore. Shortly after the pilot ended, HBO announced that it would not be returning the show to series. This came as quite a surprise, especially when the The $30 million price tag for the pilot was revealed. But HBO apparently decided that losing the $30 million was a better price to pay than taking an even bigger gamble on a less-than-stellar pilot in their biggest franchise. That decision is a lot easier to understand after the release of a series like The Witcher: Blood Origina prequel so bad that some fans have permanently soured on the entire series.
HBO has always had a slow and steady hand in booting Game of Thrones shows. The series’ first pilot was so rough that HBO scrapped it and started over, yielding the fantastic pilot that debuted in 2011. Meanwhile, we know that the network is different Game of Thrones spin-offs in the works, but only House of the Dragon has actually come true so far. The Hedge Knight is also on the way, along with a series called Nine tripswhich just transitioned from live-action to animation, proving that HBO isn’t done tinkering with its spinoffs yet.