HBO: "No Conversations" Going on About Game of Thrones Movie

[Alex Co]

HBO: "No Conversations" Going on About Game of Thrones Movie

HBO CEO Richard Pepler and president of programming Michael Lombardo shoots down Game of Thrones being turned into a movie, and insists there's no cause for concern for the TV show overtaking the books.

Ever wanted to see Game of Thrones get the movie treatment? Unfortunately, regardless if you want it or not, it's not happening anytime soon. In a press chat at the Television Critics Association (TCA) tour in Beverly Hills, HBO Chairman and CEO Richard Pepler along with president of programming Michael Lombardo answered a few fan questions regarding the highly regarded fantasy TV series. When asked about a Game of Thrones movie adaptation to cap off the TV show, Pepler mentioned that author George R.R. Martin "is 100 percent focused on his books and his series, and has only held out the movie concept as something way down the road;" with Lombardo adding, "There's no conversations going on about a movie."

In addition to that, the execs were asked about the potential problems arising if Martin doesn't finish the books in time for the TV show to continue. Lombardo states that they're working closely with Martin in regards to the plot, and that they're "not concerned about it."


We're not off on our own in respect to at least next season. Obviously George is an integral part of the creative team, so next season every move is being choreographed very closely with him. Certainly after next year we'll have to figure it out with George. The book's not finished at this point, but we're in conversations with him. We're not concerned about it.

It's said that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are looking to finish Game of Thrones in seven seasons. But with next year's fifth season run drawing most of its content from Martin's fourth and fifth novels (A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons), it's expected that the sixth and seventh season of the TV series will pull its contents from The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, which have yet to be published. So, HBO has to either wait for Martin to finish and publish the books, or work hand-in-hand with the author to make sure the show doesn't deviate its course away from the book series.

In related news, Martin has gone on record to say that he won't alter the way he writes just to please fans who can't wait for the book [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136101-Game-of-Thrones-Author-Wont-Change-How-He-Writes-for-Impatient-Fans]. So, book fans might be in for a long wait. For Game of Thrones fans, would you even want a movie based on the show/books? What are your thoughts on the TV show outpacing the novels and what can HBO do to make sure that doesn't happen?

Source: Winter is Coming [http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/07/10/game-of-thrones-hbo-book/]

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[SNCommand]

A movie I think would be a bad plan, better to simply spend more money on the final two seasons instead of a two hour long money pit

It's so much better when the show tells the whole story

 

[Veldel]

I want a non cannon movie like a what if? and change a major part of the story


Perhaps Ned not being killed?

 

[KikReask]

A movie? Nah, bad idea considering how much there is to tell. The TV show is so loved it doesn't need a movie. I just hope it doesn't have a mediocre and unsatisfying ending like most TV shows do these days, although I'm glad to hear that Martin won't rush the quality of the final few books just to keep up with the show.

 

[balladbird]

On the one hand, a Peter Jackson level budget would mean the show could finally do the battle scenes justice... I remember being underwhelmed by the 100,000 wildling army consisting of 30 guys, two giants, and a mammoth, to say nothing of the final battle between the wildings and Stannis involving even fewer people than that. XD

On the other hand... it'd take a looooot of movies to fit all the necessary info in... and that's even before Hollywood stretching it out for more money.

 

[Baresark]

It would be entirely pointless to do a movie. Whoever thought that was a thing that would happen seems a bit confused to me.

 

[ExtraDebit]

I want a non cannon movie like a what if? and change a major part of the story


Perhaps Ned not being killed?

I second that, after they finished the series that is.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Dunk and Egg tales might make for a movie, but ASOIAF? No.

 

[Reaper195]

Yes, please condense down my incredibly dense book even frther than the TV series has had to do simply to keep a high budget but still deliver an incredibly high quality series (As much as I love the series, the books are better.). Christ, could you imagine the third book as a two and a half hour film? No. Nooooo.

 

[Lightknight]

It would be entirely pointless to do a movie. Whoever thought that was a thing that would happen seems a bit confused to me.

This.

Maybe when the book and shows have long concluded. But the shows themselves are significant movie-like episodes.

 

[anamizuki]

Robert's Rebellion MIGHT work as a movie, but anything in the present? No.

 

[Yojoo]

I love the show and the books and the way the showrunners have handled the content so far, but yeah, this is just crap to placate worried readers. The show won't overtake the books... until it simply does. Season 4 was densely packed and accelerated certain characters' storylines well into books four and five, and the only way to slow down for more books to be published would be for those characters to simply vanish from the show for entire seasons at a time.

Meanwhile, other notable characters have yet to be introduced, leading me to worry that we'll either have an entire season focused on the B-list of Greyjoy and Martell characters or at least some of them will be cut altogether. I don't know which would be worse.

Game of Thrones is fantastic, but after seeing the progress of some of the story in Season 4, I can't help but think it's heading towards disaster.

 

[kasperbbs]

I would be surprised if there were plans to make a GOT movie, i just don't think that it would work. Unless it would be about some past event that was only talked about in the series/books, the assasination of the 'mad king' for example.

 

[Yojoo]

I would be surprised if there were plans to make a GOT movie, i just don't think that it would work. Unless it would be about some past event that was only talked about in the series/books, the assasination of the 'mad king' for example.

I'd love that, but why not just make it a season of television? Game of Thrones' challenges are not overtaking the books while maintaining a viewership. If they took a season off to wait for books to be written, people might lose interest. I'd be thrilled to get a season dedicated to Robert's Rebellion, and it would allow for some revelations of the pasts of certain characters that have yet to be addressed in the show's timeline.

 

[Fifty-One]

I would be surprised if there were plans to make a GOT movie, i just don't think that it would work. Unless it would be about some past event that was only talked about in the series/books, the assasination of the 'mad king' for example.

I'd love that, but why not just make it a season of television? Game of Thrones' challenges are not overtaking the books while maintaining a viewership. If they took a season off to wait for books to be written, people might lose interest. I'd be thrilled to get a season dedicated to Robert's Rebellion, and it would allow for some revelations of the pasts of certain characters that have yet to be addressed in the show's timeline.

Robert's Rebellion or the Blackfyre Rebellion. I always thought it'd be cool to see the Great Bastards.