Pilot (Bloodmoon)

Pilot
Bloodmoon
Pilot information
Status	Rejected
Written by	Jane Goldman
Directed by	S.J. Clarkson
Chronological information
Year	c. 4700 BC

The pilot of Bloodmoon was filmed, but never publicly screened. It was written by Jane Goldman and directed by S.J. Clarkson. Had the series been ordered by HBO, it would have been the first episode of the first season of Bloodmoon, and the first episode of the series overall.

Premise

Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: From the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers,^[sic] the mysteries of the East, to the Starks of legend… it’s not the story we think we know.

Appearances

Individuals

• Alden
• Andal leader
• Caera
• Casterly king
• Casterly king's lover
• Aurelia Casterly
• Ianthe Casterly
• Morven Casterly
• Cloud
• Dungeon keep
• Enclave boy
• Flavia
• Lake
• Lann the Clever
• Leaf
• Noble
• Princess
• Reynard
• Robben
• Sorcha
• Stark
• Maiev Stark
• Sylvi Stark
• Vera
• Wedding guest

Cultures and races

• Children of the Forest
• First Men
• White Walkers

Institutions

Houses

• House Casterly
• House Stark

Locations

• Westeros
  • Westerlands
    • Casterly Rock

Creatures

• Wight

Events

• Age of Heroes

Miscellaneous

• Seven
  • Crone (depicted in a statue)
  • Father (depicted in a statue)
  • Maiden (depicted in a statue)
  • Mother (depicted in a statue)
  • Smith (depicted in a statue)
  • Stranger (depicted in a statue)
  • Warrior (depicted in a statue)

Cast

Announced before filming Naomi Watts as Morven Casterly Josh Whitehouse as a Stark Naomi Ackie Denise Gough Jamie Campbell Bower as Lann the Clever Sheila Atim Ivanno Jeremiah Georgie Henley as Sylvi Stark Alex Sharp as the Casterly king's lover Toby Regbo as the Casterly king Miranda Richardson Marquis Rodriguez John Simm Richard McCabe as Robben John Heffernan Dixie Egerickx as Maiev Stark

Revealed after filming Doyin Ajiboye as Leaf Zephan Hanson Amissah as an enclave boy Seyi Andes-Pelumi as Cloud Ewan Bailey as a dungeon keep Georgina Beedle as Flavia Georgina Campbell as Sorcha Leah Gayer as Caera Mhairi Gayer as Vera Rosy McEwen as Ianthe Casterly Amy McPherson as Aurelia Casterly Felicia Mukasa as Lake Sean Rigby as Reynard Set Sjöstrand as the Andal leader TBA as Alden Uncredited Nathan Laudrup Craig as a noble Michael Laskowski as a wedding guest

Notes

• Gabriella Morales served as a double for a princess.
• Phil Campbell, Francesca Cozier, Matt Da Silva, Darin Elie, Rachael Evelyn, Richard Leggett, Chris Manger, Kye Mckee, Oleg Podobin, Anna Stephenson, Anouska Taylor, Roy Taylor, Douglas Wells, Belle Williams, and Ben Wright were stunt performers in this pilot.

Behind the scenes

• The pilot cost $30 million to $35 million to shoot.
• According to George R.R. Martin, the pilot "revolved around a wedding of a Southern house to a Northern house and it got into the whole history of the White Walkers."
  • Based on leaked set photos and the words of Martin himself, it is probable that the houses in question were Houses Casterly and Stark.
• Naomi Watts's Morven and Amy McPherson's Aurelia were mother and daughter, respectively.
• Leaf, a Child of the Forest who appeared in Game of Thrones, (previously portrayed by Octavia Alexandru and Kae Alexander in the fourth and sixth seasons, respectively) had a role in the pilot. Taking place during the Age of Heroes, almost 5,000 years before the original series, the character was recast and portrayed by series regular Doyin Ajiboye.
• The pilot was not well received, and on October 29, 2019, Deadline reported that Bloodmoon would not be moving forward as a series.
  • Less than five hours later, House of the Dragon received a 10-episode straight-to-series order.
• George R.R. Martin has not seen the pilot as it has been locked away.

In the books

At the time of the pilot's production, George R.R. Martin had only published about eight lines of text regarding the time period of the proposed series, leaving much of the worldbuilding to Jane Goldman.

In the books, Leaf did not live during the Age of Heroes, being only roughly 200 years old at the time of A Dance with Dragons. Furthermore the naming convention used for Children of the Forest (Leaf, Cloud, Lake) is not accurate to the books, as these are nicknames made up by Bran and Meera, not their actual names, which are described as "too long for human tongues."

In The World of Ice & Fire, the Long Night is said to have taken place between 6,000 and 8,000 years prior to the main series. In Bloodmoon, these events transpire less than 5,000 years before Game of Thrones. A sept is depicted in storyboard art from the pilot's production, which would be in direct contradiction to established lore, as the Faith of the Seven was introduced to Westeros during the coming of the Andals, two thousand years after the Long Night. It would appear that the timeline between the Long Night and the coming of the Andals was shortened to an extent where the events occurred in the same time period, which would explain why the Casterlys - living south of the Neck - would worship the Seven. Both in the books and in current show canon, the Casterlys had died out long before the Andals came to Westeros, and so would not have even been aware the Faith of the Seven existed.

Gallery

External links

• Unaired Game of Thrones Prequel Pilot on IMDb