Warner Bros. Pictures is developing a film that could bring the “Game of Thrones” universe to the big screen.
Beau Willimon, known for “Andor” and “House of Cards,” has been tapped to write a feature that would be based on author George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series, an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire, though it’s just in development at this stage.
Martin in a recent interview with THR teased that in addition to a film, HBO is also developing the same story as a series, so the two would be rival projects. The story, per THR, would be about Aegon I Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros, also known as Aegon’s Conquest, which is detailed in Martin’s “The World of Ice and Fire.” The easy way to describe it is that the events of the film — or series, whichever it ends up being — take place about 300 years before the flagship “Game of Thrones” HBO series and about 100 years before “House of the Dragon.”
Seeing as it’s one of WBD’s biggest brands, Warner Bros. has been kicking around a “Game of Thrones” movie idea for a while, including way back in 2013 with the idea of a three-part, “Lord of the Rings” style trilogy. But to do it effectively on that scale may have required a PG-13 rating and none of the hallmarks that made “Game of Thrones” such a hit. All sorts of prequels and spinoffs too have been discussed, and in addition to the impending return of “House of the Dragon” season 3 this summer, HBO just released “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which is now working on a second season.
For Willimon, this would be his third produced screenplay after he co-wrote the Oscar-nominated script for “The Ides of March,” and he also wrote 2018’s “Mary Queen of Scots.”
Anything in development now may eventually need to go through Paramount, which just announced its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, including both WB Pictures and HBO. The studio has stated an aggressive goal of 30 movies per year, and any sorts of brand, IP plays on some of the biggest properties in the library like “Game of Thrones” would surely be welcome.
Page Six first reported that Willimon was attached.
