Naomi Watts will star in the Game of Thrones prequel series

On HBO's Game of Thrones prequel, the night will be dark and, apparently, full of Naomi Watts.

Watts has just been cast in the network's Game of Thrones prequel series, per The Hollywood Reporter. She's the first actor to join the project, and while few details have been revealed about her character, she will reportedly play a "charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret." Deadline reports that this is a lead role, although if the prequel is anything like its predecessor, that hardly means her character will be immune from death.

The Game of Thrones prequel from HBO is set thousands of years in the past during a period known as the Age of Heroes. In the novels by George R.R. Martin, this era is fairly mysterious, although some stories about the White Walkers emerged during this time. HBO ordered a pilot for the show in June and teased it would cover "the secrets of Westeros' history." Jane Goldman (X-Men: First Class) is serving as showrunner and will write the pilot's script based on story she coauthored with Martin. Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss won't be involved.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

HBO hasn't given the Game of Thrones prequel a premiere date or even an official title, but the network's programming president previously suggested it would air in 2020 or later. HBO was at one time developing five different potential spin-offs, but the network says no others are in development right now. Still, it sounds like HBO hasn't totally ruled out moving forward with another one of those projects at a later date, making it all the more likely that the network will be completely overtaken by dragons before you know it.