But he does give an idea of when we can expect to see the first of the Game Of Thrones prequel shows
One of the best jokes we've heard since the finale aired is directly related to the future of fan-favourite Arya.
"What is west of Westeros? The resteros."
Now that Arya has decided to go full Christopher Columbus and discover G.R.R. Martin's equivalent of America, there had been a lot of speculation that maybe one of the upcoming spin-offs might involve following the adventures of A Girl.
Turns out that won't be the case.
The Hollywood Reporter sat down with HBO programming president Casey Bloys about their future line-up, now that their biggest ever show has essentially come to an end.
The entire interview is a masterclass in avoiding any kind of concrete answers in an attempt to nullify speculation, but Bloys did put an end to any rumours that one of the spin-offs might involve Arya, as you can see from the following section of their chat.
The Hollywood Reporter: George R.R. Martin has said there are three prequels still in the mix, two in the script stage and the third a pilot to be filmed this summer. Is that accurate? Can you clarify which are the two scripts that are still active?
Casey Bloys: I am not clarifying anything other than yes, we shoot the first pilot in June. There are two more in development and beyond that, there's nothing else to report.
The Hollywood Reporter: You've got the pilot and two other scripts in the works. What plans do you have at the moment to put other projects into development? Or are you waiting to see what happens with the other two scripts?
Casey Bloys: There are no plans currently to put anything more in development. We're not actively looking or going beyond what we've got in the current pilot.
"There are no plans currently to put anything more in development" would seem to state that there are no sequels or spin-offs, but it will just be prequels for the foreseeable future.
Now, that doesn't mean that 20 years from now, they won't revisit a more grown-up Maisie Williams and see what Arya has been up to, but for now, don't get your hopes up.
However, THR did also ask about when fans of the franchise can expect to see the first of the prequels, to which Bloys answered:
"We're shooting the pilot in June, you can do the math and figure out when it would be on the air. What I'm not doing is working backwards by saying, 'This has to be on the air by this date.' We want to do the best show possible. This is a pilot, so we're doing it the old-fashioned way, which is shooting a pilot. My expectation is it will be great and we'll move forward and it'll move along on a regular TV timetable. I don't want to speculate any dates."
Considering that six of the eight seasons of Game Of Thrones kicked off in the month of April (and one more premiered on March 31), we're guessing that by his "You can do the math" statement pretty much means we should expect it around April 2020.
That'll lead up nicely to the release of Season 3 of Westworld, which has properly been confirmed for a 2020 launch:
Clip via HBO
