A photo that appears to be from the top-secret set of the Game of Thrones prequel has leaked on the internet, giving fans an early sneak peek at the hotly anticipated series.
Details about the HBO show, which is understood to be titled Bloodmoon, have been scarce since production began earlier this year.
Australian actor Naomi Watts is one of the main stars on the show, which is set tens of thousands of years before the events of GoT, and a picture has emerged of what looks to be the Oscar winner in full costume during filming in Italy last month.
Watts’ character has been described as a socialite with a dark secret, and judging by this over-the-top golden costume, that definitely seems to be the case.
The pilot for the prequel just wrapped shooting in Northern Ireland at Titanic Studios, which is where a big chunk of Game of Thrones was filmed.
But according to Italian media outlet Il Messaggero, the prequel also filmed in the Italian town of Gaeta, specifically at the Grotta del Turco, which is where the photo in the tweet is geotagged.
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During HBO’s Television Critics Association summer press tour in Los Angeles late last month, president of programming Casey Bloys praised the pilot, declaring the footage as “amazing”.
Speaking from the red carpet premiere of her new movie Luce in New York in late July, Watts, who is currently filming Penguin Bloom in Sydney with Jacki Weaver, said the cast and crew on the prequel pilot did a “great job”.
“It’s such a great group of people. And they did such a great job,” she said.
“It was one of the most phenomenal things that’s happened on TV … I’m super excited. That’s all I can say.”
If the pilot gets greenlit for a full season, which is almost a certainty given the popularity of GoT, fans can expect to see the show at some point in 2020. Foxtel is the exclusive home of Game of Thrones, with the entire original season currently available to stream.
Here is how HBO has described the prequel:
“Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series 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.”
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While HBO have not confirmed a title, it is rumoured to be called Bloodmoon or The Long Night.
The big-budget spin-off is being run by writer and producer Jane Goldman, who has teamed up with Game Of Thrones author George RR Martin.
“What are they about? I cannot say,” Martin wrote in a May 4 blog post. “But maybe some of you should pick up a copy of FIRE & BLOOD (Martin’s companion novel to A Song of Ice and Fire) and come up with your own theories.”
The book Fire and Blood tells the history of House Targaryen, namely Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of the Seven Kingdoms.
However, Martin also said there would be “no Targaryens” and “no Iron Throne” in the prequel — so we think as usual he’s totally messing with our heads.
“There’s no King’s Landing. There’s no Iron Throne. There are no Targaryens — Valyria has hardly begun to rise yet with its dragons and the great empire that it built,” Martin told Entertainment Weekly.
“We’re dealing with a different and older world, and hopefully that will be part of the fun of the series.”
The most legitimate theory is that the prequel will take place during a period dubbed the Long Night, which was long before the Targaryen Conquest and in the midst of the Age of Heroes.
It was 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.
While we won’t be seeing any of the characters we came to know and love, it’s possible the Night King will star in the series, given he was the first White Walker in existence.
