In the half decade since Game of Thrones finished its eight-season run on HBO, the premium cable network has put together numerous spinoff projects — only two of which have come to fruition: House of the Dragon and the upcoming prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Now, HBO’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is making plans to bring George R.R. Martin’s fantasy world to the big screen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. is “quietly developing” a Game of Thrones movie, but it will certainly be a lot less quiet now that the word is out. The story notes that the project is still very early in development, with no director or screenwriters attached. It’s also unclear if the studio has a concept in mind for the film, or if Martin will be directly involved with crafting the story.
Ironically, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss pitched HBO a trilogy of movies to wrap up the series. Martin was reportedly in favor of that plan as well, but HBO was adamant that its most popular intellectual property remain exclusive to the network. This was before Max was launched as a standalone streamer, and new ownership took over. So there doesn’t seem to be a roadblock in the way of getting the film made now.
Thus far, almost all of the proposed Game of Thrones spinoffs have been prequels. While Martin’s backstory for his A Song of Ice and Fire novels has a lot territory to explore, there was a single Game of Thrones sequel series that would have featured Kit Harington reprising his role as Jon Snow. That project fell through, but a sequel story would be the only way to bring Harington and other cast members from the show back for a new story. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what develops.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.