'Game of Thrones' Prequel Series Set Photos May Reveal a New Great House

Production on the Game of Thrones prequel series with a working title of “Blood Moon” is well underway, having begun in May 2019. But now, the first batch of set photos have leaked out, revealing some exciting new details about which ancient Westerosi houses may show up in the new series.

Potential spoilers for the Game of Thrones prequel series follow.

The GoTlike Locations Twitter account shared a series of photos on Sunday that were highlighted by WinterIsComing.net Monday. The photos depict a longboat going in and out of Grotta del Turco, a natural divide in the coastal rock of Italy — and the House Sigil at the back of the boat bears a striking resemblance to the direwolf of House Stark.

The location featured in the photos could be Casterly Rock, the ancestral seat of House Lannister. In the main Game of Thrones series, Casterly Rock was filmed at Castillo de Trujillo in Spain, but George R.R. Martin has previously confirmed that this new series takes place “closer to 5,000 years” before Robert Baratheon claims the Iron Throne. The real world looked very different 5,000 years ago. So chances are ancient Westeros does too.

House Stark was active for thousands of years even before the events of this prequel series. So even if this sigil looks different, it could be from that family.

In the House Stark sigil we’re all familiar with, however, the direwolf has a thicker head and neck with fur that looks almost like scales. Its ears are also tucked back as it snarls. Is all this merely the product of how House Sigil art evolves over five millennia? Or does this sigil represent a different house entirely?

There are many extinct houses throughout Westerosi history, and it feels more likely that this will represent one of them instead. With all of these details combined, let’s present a new theory: This is the sigil of House Casterly.

Recall that in Game of Thrones Season 8, while Bronn is interrogating Jaime and Tyrion Lannister, extorting them for more money and power, he reminds Jaime that his ancestors were “fucking cutthroats.”

“Who were your ancestors? The ones who made your family rich? Fancy lads in silk? They were fucking cutthroats. That’s how all the great houses start isn’t it? With a hard bastard who was good at killing people. Kill a few hundred people, they make you a lord. Kill a few thousand, they make you king.”

He’s referring to legends about Lann the Clever, a mysterious cutthroat who founded House Lannister and took Casterly Rock from the Casterlys at some point during the Age of Heroes — yes, that’s exactly when the prequel series takes place. The Lannisters are only so wealthy because they stole from the Casterlys, the richest house in Westeros at the time.

Is Bronn’s call-back to these historical events somehow an oblique reference to some of the stories we might witness in the Game of Thrones prequel series? If so, then the first unofficial look at Naomi Watts’ socialite character also revealed Monday could indicate that she’s one of the Casterlys destined to die in the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel series.

In the official series description, the prequel “chronicles the world’s descent from the Golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour” mostly related to the creation of the Night King, but like in the parent series, it’ll also focus just as much on political intrigue.

The Game of Thrones prequel series has no official name or release date.