For over a year now we have been reporting on Jane Goldman’s so-called “Blood Moon,” the only green-lit Game of Thrones spin-off pilot among what were once five projects competing against each other to actually go into production. One of those was particularly enticing to many fans—a prequel set more than a century and a half before the events in Game of Thrones, during the Targaryen civil war known as the “Dance of the Dragons.” What made it even more exciting was that it was being developed by fan-favorite Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman. Alas, HBO and Cogman parted ways and he’s off to Amazon now, so that’s not happening… except maybe it is?!

Cogman may not be involved anymore, but the idea isn’t dead in the halls of HBO!

Deadline had the scoop: reportedly, a pilot order is close to be given by HBO for this prequel project developed by author George R.R. Martin himself and by Colony co-creator Ryan Condal, who will presumably be the showrunner if the show is green-lit.

Unsurprisingly given the time period, the project is said to be heavily based on Martin’s “Fire & Blood”, his recently released volume all about Targaryen history. Since Martin has obviously been thinking about Targaryens a lot, perhaps it’s not a coincidence that Condal and Martin have apparently been working on this project in secret since fall 2018!

Despite the similar premise to Cogman’s proposal, this is described as a “brand new take” on the material. Speaking of said material, “Fire & Blood” spans hundreds of years, from Aegon’s Conquest 300 years before the beginning of Game of Thrones to more than a century later with the Dance of the Dragons, the civil war that is often pinpointed as the beginning of the end of the Targaryen dynasty. So, unless the show takes an uncharacteristically anthological approach, it would be fixed on one time period. Indeed, according to Deadline “the war will be a significant part of the TV adaptation.” At the same time, Deadline claims the show would begin “300 years” before the original show, so perhaps the story will tackle numerous time periods. We’ll have to wait and see!

So there you have it! If you were worried about the more distant, legendary Long Night setting for “Blood Moon”, or you simply prefer dragons to White Walkers, this may be the show for you—if Deadline is correct and HBO is close to ordering a pilot for it, that is. We’ll keep you informed of any developments!