Hotly-anticipated 'Game of Thrones' prequel casts Oscar-nominated Naomi Watts in lead role

Game of Thrones is such a massively successful, worldwide phenomenon at this point that it's kind of hard to find someone who isn't hooked on the show. With that level of interest from viewers across the globe, the anticipation for the final season is high, and it looks like we've got a lot in store for us when it airs next year.

According to HBO President Casey Bloys, the next season is basically going to be "six one-hour movies" to wrap it all up. “The show has proven that TV is every bit as impressive and in many cases more so, than film," he told Entertainment Weekly last year. "What they’re doing is monumental.”

However, this final season isn't the last we're going to see of Westeros. HBO are reportedly producing five (yes, five) more shows set in the same world. George R R Martin, who wrote the (still unfinished) book series the show is based on, said that each project will be a prequel, and that none of the current cast will be included.

The first of these projects to see the light of day will reportedly take place thousands of years before the events of the show we know and love. Co-created by Martin and Jane Goldman (who co-wrote Kingsman and Kick-ass), the show will "chronicle the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour".

“Only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend … it’s not the story we think we know,” HBO revealed.

Goldman was asked about how much the show will lean into comedy and violence, which both Game of Thrones and Goldman's previous projects have previously had in spades. "Those are things I love, and things I like to do,” she told Digital Spy. “It would be remiss of me not to put them in.”

While we don't have that much in the way of details about this upcoming prequel show, there has been a report courtesy of Variety that Naomi Watts will be taking the lead role.

Watts, who was nominated for Best Actress for 21 Grams and Best Supporting Actress for The Impossible, kicked off her career in television with Home & Away, but is perhaps best known for her roles in Birdman, Mulholland Drive, King Kong, St. Vincent and the US remake of The Ring.

The show's title has also been announced by Martin as 'The Long Night'. The exact details of her character are still under wraps, but her role is described as "a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret" - something which describes quite a few of Game of Thrones' characters when you think about it.

It looks like while we'll be waving goodbye to Game of Thrones after its undoubtedly explosive finale in 2019, it won't be long before we're returning to the same world once again.