Game of Thrones prequel series: All you need to know about setting, characters, budget of GoT spin-off

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from Game of Thrones season 8 For our full coverage of Game of Thrones season 8, click  here . Game of Thrones aired its final episode today and fans witnessed the end of a decade-long emotional investment. However, this end may not be the conclusion of the world which George RR Martin created for thousands worldwide. HBO network has at least three spin-offs scheduled for the show, one being the prequel which has Martin serve as executive producer. Filming for the series has reportedly begun already. [caption id=“attachment_6214821” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] George RR Martin’s books inspired Game of Thrones and its prequel series. Twitter/@thronesfacts[/caption] Here are some important FAQs about the prequel series: The prequel’s timeline As per a CNBC report, the prequel is set at the end of the Age of Heroes which essentially makes it somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 years prior to the current happenings in Game of Thrones. The prequel addresses a particular section in Martin’s books titled The Long Night. This portion of Martin’s story talks about the first instance when the humans had defeated the White Walkers and created the wall to protect the people south of it. What’s the setting? Martin’s creation of fictional Westeros remains the setting for the prequel as well. However, since it’s set thousands of years prior to Game of Thrones, the backdrop may be unrecognisable for most fans. Talking to Entertainment Weekly in November 2018, Martin warned fans that they may be completely confused seeing the setting of the prequel as the old Westeros would be devoid of King’s Landing or the Iron Throne. “There are no Targaryens — Valyria has hardly begun to rise yet with its dragons and the great empire that it built. We’re dealing with a different and older world and hopefully that will be part of the fun of the series,” Martin told the publication. The crux of the prequel HBO’s official summary of the prequel states — “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.” This itself gives us certain important hints about the subjects that will be covered in the prequel. The genesis of the White Walkers are an important narrative thread which will be dealt with. Martin informed The Hollywood Reporter that the book The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones may contain some clues on the upcoming series. The book notes in details The Battle for the Dawn, which describe how men got along with supernatural beings like giants and the children of the forest to combat the wights. The kingpins  Two of the most (seemingly) important characters in the prequel are Brandon the Builder, who is essentially Bran, Arya, Sansa and other Starks’ ancestor, and Lann the Clever, who is described as one who took control over Casterly Rock and was the founder of House Lannister (making him Tyrion, Cersei and Jaime’s ancestor). However, as per Martin, the protagonist for The Long Night is Azor Ahai. Ahai was known to be a legendary fighter who was responsible for defeating the wights. Miranda Richardson and Naomi Watts are the only two characters who have come on board the prequel. Watts’ character also is being kept under wraps with the network revealing only cryptic details about her character — “a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret.” The budget Francesca Orsi, HBO’s senior vice-president of drama,  told The Hollywood Reporter that the network was “going big” with the prequel. As per the CNBC report, HBO was spending approximately $6 million per episode initially. Orsi also stated that this kind of budget “would never fly for what we are trying to do”. The cost of production gradually started increasing with each season, especially since CGI dragons were an important part of the narrative. As per Entertainment Weekly, each episode in season 6 costed $10 million.