All of the buzz and rumor may be around Game of Thrones season 8 but there is now another series to get just as excited about. 

GoT fans were no doubt worried about where they would get their GoT fix from after the season finale airs in 2019 but they can now rest at ease as HBO has confirmed that it is working on a prequel pilot to the hit show. 

The prequel goes back in time to before the events of Game of Thrones and is being written by feature writer Jane Goldman while George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, has come on board as executive producer, according to Carter Matt.

Martin is still busy working on The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, which has been extensively delayed so we can only hope that his work on the Game of Thrones prequel will not cause further delays to the book's release. 

It was supposed to provide the basis for the final season of the HBO TV adaptation, but the producers had to work on their own ending as The Winds of Winter is not expected to release until after GoT season 8 has aired.  

Martin turned to his blog to assure fans that Winds of Winter remains his "top priority" despite his involvement in the prequel TV pilot and that the book is the reason why he has actually chosen to be hands off with the script for the timebeing and leave much of it in the hands of Goldman. 

He wrote on his official site: "I've consulted with all of the writers on all of the successor shows, and several of them have visited me in Santa Fe for long days of discussion, and we've gone back and forth in email, text, and telephone, so I have definitely been involved ... But really, the accolades here should go to Jane ... And yes, before you ask, work on Winds of Winter continues, and remains my top priority. It is ridiculous to think otherwise. If I wasn't busy with Winds, don't you think I'd be scripting one or more of these pilots myself? It's not as if I've never written for TV..."