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This is a damn shame because he has written some truly incredible episodes.
With everyone’s attention currently on Winterfell as The Great War looks set to begin, there’s no denying that Game of Thrones is now entering its endgame as the final episodes approach.
As soon as the credits roll on the next episode, we’ll only have three more episodes to enjoy until it’s gone for good and while that’s sadder than a Westerosi wedding, fans can take some solace in the fact that a pilot for Jane Goldman’s prequel show is being made.
If the pilot goes well, it appears that we’ll be stepping back into George R.R. Martin’s wonderful world.
However, as has been reported previously, the script from Goldman, who has worked on Kingsman and Kick-Ass amongst other projects, was just one of five that HBO commissioned with a view to developing into a series and in terms of the other four writers, Bryan Cogman’s project was one that we were really rooting for.
Hardcore Game of Thrones fans will know that Cogman has been instrumental in developing some of the best episodes in the show’s history.
Cogman started as an assistant to Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss and eventually became part of the show’s writing team and a co-executive producer. During his time with Game of Thrones, he has written some of the finest episodes and scenes in the show’s history – he was also responsible for the most recent episode ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’.
For example, Cogman wrote Season 4’s ‘The Laws of Gods and Men’ (which featured Tyrion Lannister’s epic ‘trial by combat’ speech – the best writing in the show) and Season 3’s ‘Kissed by Fire’ (which included Jaime Lannister’s bathtub confession to Brienne).
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cogman was asked about the status of his Thrones spinoff and he confirmed that it’s deader than Ned Stark.
“I’m definitely leaving,” he said.
“I was developing one of the successor shows with George. George has worked with a bunch of the writers, including Jane [Goldman], whose show is being done [as a pilot]. My prequel show is not happening and will not happen. HBO decided to go a different way.”
“I’m working with Amazon now and helping them out with their shows,” he added.
“So, it is a goodbye. I am done with Westeros. It’s wonderfully bittersweet. I’ll certainly miss it, but I’m excited to go out on my own and try to be in the captain’s chair of my own projects, armed with everything I’ve learned.”
To quote the immortal words of the Night’s Watch… “and now his watch has ended”.
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