Something to look forward to: Are you a Game of Thrones fan looking forward to a return to George R R Martin's world? Sadly, it's going to be a while. House of the Dragon, HBO's prequel series, is unlikely to air until "sometime in 2022."

In an interview with Deadline, HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys said that it was too early to specify anything other than a "best guess" 2022 launch date for the series, which is set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones and tells the story of the House of Targaryen.

Bloys added that writing on the show was underway. It's penned by Ryan Condal and based on Martin's 2019 book Fire and Blood. No word on casting just yet, but we do know a 10-episode series of House of the Dragon has been ordered.

HBO had been working on four Game of Thrones spinoff series, though House of the Dragon is the only one that hasn't been put on hold, which, for some shows, could be indefinitely.

"For me for right now, I think getting House of the Dragon on the air will be the number one priority," Bloys said. "There are no other blinking green lights or anything like that. Sometime down the road who knows, but there are no immediate plans. We are all focusing on House of the Dragon."

Bloys also explained why HBO passed on Bloodmoon, another GoT prequel set 8,000 years before the show. A pilot had been made starring Naomi Watts, but the Jane Goldman-written series wasn't picked up by the network.

"In development, in pilots, sometimes things come together, sometimes they don't. One of the things I think Jane took on beautifully, which was a challenge, there was a lot more role creation because she set hers 8,000 years before the (mothership) show, so it required a lot more. That is a big swing."

After becoming one of the biggest TV shows of all time, the final season of Game of Thrones disappointed many fans, leading to a petition (signed by 1.8 million people) to remake it. Many blamed the declining quality on the fact the show had passed Martin's books, which won't be a problem with House of the Dragon. "One of the things about House of Dragons, there is a text, there is a book so that made it a little bit more of a road map for a series order," added Bloys. We'll find out if it can match the early episodes of GoT in a couple of years.