HBO Chief Doesn't Think 'Game Of Thrones' Franchise Will Get As Big As Marvel Or 'Star Wars'

Casey Bloys, the chief content officer for HBO and HBO Max, does not think the Game of Thrones franchise will grow to the size of the sprawling, interconnected universes that Marvel Studios has established in its superhero storytelling or that Lucasfilm is aiming for with its Star Wars franchise.

In a new interview, Bloys seems doubtful that the rich world established in the mega-hit fantasy series could sustain that many stories, but hints that more shows like the upcoming prequel series House of the Dragon, which is set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, could be given the go-ahead in the future.

Speaking as part of a keynote conversation with Variety, Bloys reiterated that more Game of Thrones spin-offs may eventually happen, but stopped far short of laying out some grand, Disneyesque plan to milk the franchise totally dry.

"Those are fantastic properties that are decades and decades old," he said of Marvel and Star Wars. "I don't know that it would get that big, but certainly it is a great resource that we have and an amazing world. So I don't think it's just going to be the one [show] for the rest of its life."

At one point, HBO was developing five Game of Thrones spin-off shows. One, which hailed from Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass) and S.J. Clarkson (The Defenders) and had Naomi Watts on board to star, seemed like it was close to moving forward, but the plug was ultimately pulled. As far as we know, all of the other shows except for House of the Dragon have been scrapped as well.

He also confirmed that House of the Dragon will be "an HBO show" as opposed to an HBO Max show, but left the door open for the possibility of premiering new episodes on the HBO Max platform before they debut on HBO proper.

"It is an HBO show," he said. "What that means in '22, could there be some sort of sneak or something? I mean, who knows? Like I said before, we were talking Euphoria, which we released early on Max the weekend before its linear premier. Who knows? I mean, '22 seems so long away and so far out, so we'll see. We'll see how it goes. I just want to get shooting first."

House of the Dragon, which stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cook, and Emma D'Arcy, is set to premiere in 2022.