Game of Thrones is nearing its big finale, but fans won’t have to wait too long for the hugely anticipated prequel.
As usual, the whole show is shrouded in secrecy, but HBO have slowly released crumbs of information including the recent signing of a new cast member.
Oscar nominee Miranda Richardson, who played Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is the latest name to join the line-up, which includes Naomi Watts, Naomi Ackie, Josh Whitehouse and Jamie Campbell Bower.
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There are no details about who Richardson, a Hollywood veteran, will play in the GoT prequel, but we have been told Watts is portraying a “charming socialite with a dark secret”.
Richardson is no stranger to big budget productions, having scored Oscar nods for her roles in Tom & Viv and Damage.
The currently untitled series is slated to start shooting almost immediately after Season 8 airs on Foxtel, with the first episode to stream express from the US on April 15 at 11am.
This means we would hopefully get our first fix late next year or in early 2020.
The pilot set to be directed by S.J. Clarkson, with original author George R.R. Martin and veteran GoT writer Jane Goldman having co-created the prequel.
As for the show’s storyline, we know it is set to take place thousands of years before the events of GoT, with a show description reading: “(The prequel) chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour.
“From the horrifying secrets of Westeros’s history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend, only one thing is for sure: It’s not the story we think we know.”
GoT fans speculate it will be set in an era in Westeros known as the Long Night, which is expected to be the title of the series.
The Long Night, which took place many years before the Targaryen Conquest, is a winter that lasted an entire generation, where men waged battle against the White Walkers in a conflict dubbed War for the Dawn. This history has been touched on in Game of Thrones.
The final season of Game of Thrones will air express from the US on Foxtel on Monday, April 15, 2019 at 11am AEDT.
