Warner Brothers is reportedly developing a Game of Thrones movie, with multiple sources telling The Hollywood Reporter that the company is keen to bring Westeros to the big screen – which could mean it won’t be a Max-first flick.
Now before we get too excited it’s worth noting the Game of Thrones movie is super early in development – so early in fact that reportedly no cast, writer, or filmmaker is yet attached to the project. So even if it does get greenlit we might not see it for some time.
It being at such an undeveloped stage means we also don’t know when it might be set. Both other follow-up Game of Thrones projects – the hit House of the Dragon, and the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – have been prequels. However, sequels have previously been bandied about – such as the seemingly scrapped John Snow show (via Vanity Fair).
If you recall there were originally plans to have multiple Game of Thrones movies, with the original showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, as well as author George R.R. Martin, expressing interest in concluding the story with three feature films instead of a final season. However, HBO reportedly shot the idea down as it wanted to keep Game of Thrones as an HBO series.
This new movie discussion does follow Warner Bros.’ modern approach of sharing its properties between the two mediums of film and TV. The Penguin, Dune: Prophecy, and the upcoming Harry Potter show have all brought film worlds to TV shows, so why couldn’t a TV world be transformed into a movie?
What we want from the Game of Thrones movie
As a series Game of Thrones was known for its sprawling character arcs, with episodes feeling almost like several minisodes carefully stitched together. The large cast of key characters gave the series an epic feel as each season featured multiple different warring factions creating conflict throughout Westeros – without any battle or betrayal feeling tired.
However, with season one alone having a length of around nine and a half hours it had the time to make space for the plethora of plot threads. A feature-length film at two, maybe three hours (at a push) would want to hone in on a smaller slice of Westeros.
That’s why a sequel movie feels like it makes the most sense. It could take the form of a more character-driven flick – perhaps focused on the adventures of John Snow, Arya Stark, or another of the main series’ protagonists post the happenings of season eight – as the more honed-in story would better suit the scope of a movie, and this is the kind of route we hope the movie takes.
Alternatively, Warner Bros. could show us how the more united Westeros (and the North) handle a new invading threat – giving us a massive battle on the big screen, without needing to split our time among too many factions. This approach could also play into a prequel movie that shows us the first conflict between the First Men and the White Walkers.
However, neither of those sounds particularly appealing if you ask us. Westeros was interesting because of its in-fighting, and we’ve seen united armies face off against big on-screen threats before (from Warner Bros. itself with the likes of Lord of the Rings). Meanwhile, a look into that first White Walker conflict could feel equally uninspiring as many of the mysteries of how they defeated the undead were revealed in the main show – and ultimately we know the conflict won’t have a satisfying resolution because neither side can really ‘win’.
We’ll have to wait and see what Warner Bros. announces in the coming months and years with respect to this project. House of the Dragon has done a lot of great work bringing back our love for the fantasy series that had previously ended on a low note, and we’re excited to see what comes next.