Years before Emma D'Arcy's Rhaenyra Targaryen, Olivia Cooke's Alicent Hightower and Matt Smith's Daemon Targaryen debuted on HBO's House of the Dragon, there was Bloodmoon. Said production was another planned TV entry into the A Song of Ice and Fire universe. However, unlike HoTD -- which debuts its anticipated second season this June -- that latter Game of Thrones prequel series, which was to star Naomi Watts, sadly never materialized. It's a fact that the spinoff's director S.J. Clarkson recently discussed while reflecting on her "good pilot."
While on a promo tour for her latest directorial project, Sony's Spider-Verse flick Madame Web, Clarkson caught up with Deadline, during which her past GoT project came up. She praised the Bloodmoon pilot, which was filmed back in 2019 and would've seen Naomi Watts joined by Miranda Richardson, Denise Gough, Shiela Atim, Toby Regbo and Jamie Campbell Bower, among others. Clarkson said of the production:
Well, I've not got a phone call yet [from HBO], but I’d happily pick up the phone for them. I made a pilot. I made a great pilot that I think had a wonderful script by Jane Goldman. And I think we did a pretty good job. Naomi Watts is sublime. I think she’s such a wonderful actor. Yeah, we shot it.
Per Entertainment Weekly, the Bloodmoon spinoff was meant to take place thousands of years before the events of the OG show, chronicling "the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour." The show would've delved into the "horrifying secrets of Westeros's history" as well as the true origin of the White Walkers.
The Academy Award-nominated Naomi Watts was cast as "a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret" in the prequel series, and photos of the British actress in character costume have recently hit the Internet. That happened after the show's hair and makeup designer, Flora Moody, posted them on Instagram.
Ultimately, despite forking over a cool $30 million to film the pilot, HBO decided against moving forward with the series. As for whether the episode might ever see the light of day, S.J. Clarkson told the trade:
We were in the post stage. I’m not sure I’d want people to see it. It was very post-visy. But yeah, we did shoot a pilot. I guess you’d have to talk to HBO about the rest of it. I did my job.
When it comes to the network's reasoning for the cancellation of Bloodmoon, former WarnerMedia chairman Robert Greenblatt told The Hollywood Reporter:
It was very well produced and looked extraordinary. But it didn’t take me to the same place as the original series. It didn’t have that depth and richness that the original series’ pilot did.
Alas, while Game of Thrones fans may never get to see Bloodmoon, there are plenty of GoT spinoffs to keep them occupied. Along with picking back up with the Targaryen family after that eventful finale of House of the Dragon Season 1, there's the much-rumored Jon Snow sequel, that Dunk and Egg spinoff and an origin-story series centered on Aegon the Conqueror. The world of Westeros is growing, and we're not mad about it. Though some may always wonder what could've been with Naomi Watts' intended show.
To catch up with the Game of Thrones prequel that did happen, check out House of the Dragon's first season with a Max subscription.
