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George R.R. Martin teases new ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel series

FILE - In this March 18, 2013 file photo, Author George R.R. Martin arrives at the premiere for the third season of the HBO television series “Game of Thrones” on March 18, 2013, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Matt Sayles / Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
By Kate Feldman Associated Press

The newly ordered “Game of Thrones” prequel pilot won’t affect “Winds of Winter,” that book George R.R. Martin is definitely going to finish.

HBO greenlit a spinoff pilot from Martin and writer Jane Goldman last week, and the genre-changing author is giving a few hints about what the series could be.

“Yes, this is a prequel, not a sequel. None of the characters or actors from GAME OF THRONES will appear in the new show. All of the successor shows we’ve been developing have been prequels, as I have mentioned before,” Martin wrote on his website.

“This one really puts the PRE in prequel, since it is set not ninety years before GAME OF THRONES (like Dunk & Egg), or a few hundred years, but rather ten thousand years (well, assuming the oral histories of the First Men are accurate, but there are maesters at the Citadel who insist it has only been half that long).”

Martin also suggested the show be called “The Long Night,” which certainly hints at the importance of the White Walkers.

The official logline for the pilot, released by HBO, describes the show was chronicling “the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend. it’s not the story we think we know.”

The iconic author will be involved in the project, but promised that his long-awaited novel, “Winds of Winter,” still takes priority; the sixth book in his series has already been pushed back to at least next year and there’s little sign that he’s close to done.

Goldman’s pilot is the first selected from the five “Game of Thrones” spinoffs being considered at HBO as the original series comes to a close with its eighth and final season. She previously wrote the screenplays for “Kingsman: The Secret Service” and “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” as well as “X-Men: First Class,” “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and the upcoming live action “The Little Mermaid.”