‘Game Of Thrones': A Timeline Of Every Movie Rumor (That Still Hasn’t Been Confirmed) 

‘Game Of Thrones\': A Timeline Of Every Movie Rumor (That Still Hasn’t Been Confirmed)

What is dead may never die -- and probably will never get greenlit, either.

There’s no denying that HBO’s “Game Of Thrones” is the biggest, most talked about drama on television — but will it ever follow in the footsteps of shows like “Sex and the City” or “Entourage” and make the leap to movie theaters?

Lately that’s been the question on everybody’s mind, especially after a theatrical release seemed like a done deal thanks to a false tabloid story going viral last week (more on that in a second). But despite the current fervor for more Westeros, odds are it probably won’t happen anytime soon — HBO is in the business of making television, not movies, and they’ve got plenty of material for new seasons even if it

take forever for George R.R. Martin to write “The Winds of Winter.”

But like the North, the Internet remembers, and it’s not letting those movie rumors go. So when did they even start in the first place, and who’s responsible for turning it into a question every single cast member will get asked for the rest of their careers? We put on our fanciest historian hats to trace back when the speculation first began, and the true culprits might surprise you (but probably not).

February 13, 2014 : George R.R. Martin may be the guy most people think of when they ponder those movie rumors, but it was Kit Harington who first spoke openly about the idea. “I think it’s an option on the table, maybe,” he told

while on the red carpet for a “Pompeii” screening. “It’s very filmic in its style already, so it’s possible.”

March 19, 2014: Soon after, the man himself got into the discussion as well. “It all depends on how long the main series runs,” Martin told

. “Do we run for seven years? Do we run for eight? Do we run for 10? The books get bigger and bigger (in scope). It might need a feature to tie things up, something with a feature budget, like $100 million for two hours. Those dragons get real big, you know.”

July 10, 2014: Those rumors were quickly shot down at the TCA press tour for “Game of Thrones” last year, where HBO CEO Michael Lombardo said, “There’s no conversations going on about a movie.” “[Martin] is 100 percent focused on his books and his series and has only held out the movie concept as something way down the road,” HBO Chairman Richard Plepler added.

November 14, 2014: It was Tywin Lannister, Charles Dance, who really got the rumor mill churning when he admitted to The Daily Beast that he’s heard the movie rumors, too. “There’s talk of eventually trying to do a feature film, but I don’t know which of the storylines,” he said. “There’s so much to cram into a film.”

February 1, 2015: In anticipation for the fifth season, HBO brought the two final episodes of season 4 to IMAX theaters across the country for a weekend and cleaned up with $1.5 million at the box office. “This is the first time that HBO has taken one of their series episodes and released it in IMAX,” Warner Bros. distribution EVP Jeff Goldstein said in a statement. “We see this as a future, and not just with HBO.” Naturally, a lot of fans assumed that the company was testing the waters for a possible film release.

February 16, 2015: Speaking to Express, Sophie Turner admitted that she doesn’t know anything about these movie rumors. She won’t rule it out, she said, but “I know there’s been rumours going round in the press — but for now, I’m very much content with it being a TV show in IMAX. I think that’s an achievement in itself; so why fix it if it ain’t broke?”

March 11, 2015: As part of their exhaustive “Game of Thrones” coverage just before the season 5 premiere,

asked HBO programming president Michael Lombardo about those movie rumors again. “Certainly there have been conversations where it’s been said, ’Wouldn’t it be cool to do that?\'” he said. “But when you start a series with our subscribers, the promise is that for your HBO fee that we’re going to take you to the end of this. I feel that on some level [that’s] changing the rules: Now you have to pay $16 to see how your show ends.”

spread was released, Martin commented on how long the show could conceivably run on Livejournal, as well as the notion that it might all end with a movie. The idea wasn’t his to begin with, he maintains, but he’s still on board. “Sure, I love the idea,” he wrote. “Why not? What fantasist would not love the idea of going out with an epic hundred million feature film? And the recent success of the IMAX experience shows that the audience is there for such a movie. If we build it, they will come. But will we build it? I have no bloody idea.”

June 9, 2015: Speaking on “The South Bank Show,” Martin pointed out why exactly he’d never have been able to film a “Game of Thrones” movie to begin with. “It took Peter Jackson three movies to make Tolkien’s ’Lord of the Rings,’ and he still had to cut things,” he said. “It would take three movies for ’A Storm of Swords’ alone! And if you figure like two movies for ’A Game of Thrones,’ and two for ’A Clash of Kings,’ you’re already up to seven movies and you’re halfway through the series. Nobody’s going to commit to that – and, of course, they didn’t commit to that.”

claimed that while at the HBO Emmy’s after party, George R.R. Martin revealed that “there will be a movie but I will not be involved. I have too much to do. That is something HBO and the DB and David are dealing with.” Another source reportedly disclosed that the film could possibly be about characters in Westerosi history, long before the series takes place.

September 28, 2015: After the Daily Star reported that a movie was definitely on the way, George R.R. Martin himself took to his Livejournal once again to debunk the false quotations attributed to him. He still maintains that the movie wasn’t his idea, but he still loves the thought, even though he still thinks it’s highly improbable. “There is great enthusiasm for the notion, sure, but not necessarily from HBO,” he points out. “They are in the TV business, not the feature film business. And those of you with long memories may recall all the rumors about a SOPRANOS movie… a ROME movie… a DEADWOOD movie.” Whoops, you’ve got us there, George.