Game of Thrones ended after almost a decade on television, but HBO didn’t spare any time to create other series based in Westeros. The prequel House of the Dragon hinted at the possibility of other spinoffs about to appear on television. House of the Dragon was the first of many and is set to premiere its second season. However, interesting details about a canceled Game of Thrones project have recently come to light.
10,000 Ships was the story of Moses but with Nymeria
Brian Helgeland, famous for writing scripts for films like L.A Confidential and A Knight’s Tale, recently talked to Inverse about the canceled spinoff, “It came out great, but I think they felt the period of my show was too far removed from the pillars of the original. That’s why it hasn’t been picked up yet, but nothing is ever dead. My script was based on Queen Nymeria and this little blurb about her that was in a Westeros encyclopedia.”
“Essentially, it was the story of Moses but swapping him out for Nymeria,” he continued. “Her country gets ruined and her people are forced to live on the water, which is why the show was called ‘Ten Thousand Ships.’ They end up having to leave and find a new home like the Israelites leaving Egypt. She’s leading all these people, trying to hold everyone together but things are always in danger of falling apart as they travel around a fictionalized version of the Mediterranean, looking for a new home to settle in.”
Brian Helgeland hopes HBO will pick up 10,000 Ships in the future again
Despite the Game of Thrones spinoff currently resting on the shelves at HBO, Brian Helgeland has hopes that the show might take off in the future. Revealing more details about the plot, the writer said, “Their life was nomadic. Living in a raft city that was bound together, this big floating city. Sometimes, the characters would come ashore, but they ultimately get driven off the land as they search for a home, their version of the promised land.”
“I met with George R.R. Martin to pitch him the idea, which he signed off on. Sadly, I didn’t work with him closer, but I would have done if the show was picked up,” he continued. “It was kind of like Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films mixed with ‘The Odyssey.’ In a way, Nymeria is Odysseus, but instead of a 12-person crew, she’s responsible for every citizen in this floating city-state. My work is still there if HBO wants to pick it up. I enjoyed my time developing it, and you just never know.”
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