Game of Thrones Headed to Broadway with Prequel Play, George R.R. Martin Promises ‘Carnage’
HBO
Game of Thrones is headed to Broadway.
George R.R. Martin, the author behind the book series which served as the basis for the HBO show, is now bringing the fantasy world of Westeros to the stage.
Martin will co-write the show with award-winning playwright Duncan MacMillan, who was behind the Broadway adaptation of the classic novel 1984.
The goal is to debut productions of the show in New York City, London’s West End, and Australia starting in 2023.
The play is said to be a prequel set during The Great Tourney at Harrenhal, which took place 16 years prior to the events of the books and the HBO series. Fans will recognize the tournament as the start of the pivotal events that led up to the story that later unfolded.
Several fan-favorite characters, many of whom were killed off during the run of the HBO show, participated in the Great Tourney at Harrenhal – considered the biggest competition in Westeros history. Ned Stark, Jaime Lannister, Robert Baratheon, and Oberyn Martell are among the popular characters who could be revived for the stage show.
“The seeds of war are often planted in times of peace,” Martin said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Few in Westeros knew the carnage to come when highborn and smallfolk alike gathered at Harrenhal to watch the finest knights of the realm compete in a great tourney, during the Year of the False Spring. It is a tourney oft referred to during HBO’s Game of Thrones, and in my novels, Song of Ice & Fire… and now, at last, we can tell the whole story…on the stage.”
According to the play’s official description, audiences will get to experience for the first time “a landmark event that previously was shrouded in mystery.” The stage show will also boast “a story centered around love, vengeance, madness and the dangers of dealing in prophecy, in the process revealing secrets and lies that have only been hinted at until now.”
In addition to the Broadway show, there are five Game of Thrones spinoffs in various stages of development at HBO, including the prequel series, House of the Dragon, which is expected to premiere in 2022.
With its Broadway adaptation, the Game of Thrones franchise follows a similar path as the Harry Potter series, which debuted the smash-hit Broadway show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in 2018.
