A prequel series to Game of Thrones that was filmed across the north is likely to hit TV screens in late 2025, it has emerged.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which brought the HBO fantasy franchise back to Northern Ireland after a six-year absence, began shooting in Belfast in the summer.
Based on short stories by author George RR Martin, the new show is set around 100 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
HBO is a subsidiary of media and entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery, and the conglomerate’s global streaming president JB Perette discussed the channel’s release schedule this week at the Wells Fargo Technology Conference in California.
He told the event that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would be a summer release.
However, Hollywood trade outlet Variety has reported that the show is “likely going to be a fourth quarter title”, that would see it released in late 2025.
Filming for the new show was headquartered in Belfast’s Titanic Studios, which was the base of the original series for eight seasons.
However, fans of HBO’s other hit Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, will have to wait longer for its third season, as Mr Perrette told the conference that it would not be released until 2026.
That show, the second season of which was screened earlier this year, is not filmed in Northern Ireland, but is based instead at Warner Bros Leavesden Studios in Watford, England.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which shrinks the wider storytelling scope of its Westeros predecessor shows, centres on a wandering knight and his squire, and stars Galway actor and former Ireland under-20 rugby international Peter Claffey in the title role.
Its release will be a welcome boost for the north’s tourism industry, which still benefits from its links to Game of Thrones.
In September it was revealed the company behind the Game of Thrones Studio Tour in Banbridge racked up a loss of £17 million in 2023.
The £40m visitor attraction, which features costumes and props from the original series, opened in 2022 with a target of attracting 600,000 visitors each year.
Linen Mill Studios, which owns the tour, reported an operating loss of £7m for the 12 months to September 2023, while a further loss of £10m was incurred due to what the company said was a revision of the historic valuation of its assets “to more accurately reflect visitor numbers”.
Its original target of 600,000 visitors annually has been downgraded to 400,000.
