'Game of Thrones' season 7 spoilers: Prequel not concrete yet; deleted scene reveals Olenna Tyrell scheming against Lannisters

While "Game of Thrones" showrunner David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have previously confirmed that they are not interested in doing a prequel series for HBO's award-winning fantasy drama, the network is apparently still working on giving viewers more "Game of Thrones."

HBO programming president Casey Bloys recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly and revealed that a "Game of Thrones" prequel is currently being discussed.

"I would say it's still kind of preliminary ongoing talks," he said. "There are areas we are exploring, but I wouldn't point to any one and say, 'This is what we're going to do,'" he added.

This should come as good news to avid "Game of Thrones" viewers, who are already mourning the impending conclusion of the popular series. The show's seventh season, which will debut in 2017, is its penultimate season.

Bloys' revelation that HBO is considering a "Game of Thrones" prequel series is surprising in that the network has never launched a prequel or a spinoff of any of its numerous original series.

It is nonetheless entirely possible, given that "Game of Thrones" has been both critically and commercially successful. In addition, "Game of Thrones" author and executive producer George R.R. Martin has a wealth of material from which the network can draw a prequel story. In fact, almost two decades ago, Martin began publishing a series of stories dubbed "The Tales of Dunk and Egg," a prequel to his "A Song of Ice and Fire" on which "Game of Thrones" is based.

Meanwhile, a deleted scene from the previous season of "Game of Thrones" has revealed that Olenna Tyrell (Dianna Rigg), the formidable matriarch of House Tyrell, had been plotting against the Lannisters before her family was killed in the season 6 finale.

In the scene, which Time said is from the second episode of season 6, Olenna berates her son, Lord Mace Tyrell (Roger Ashton-Griffiths), for leaving his children Margaery (Natalie Dormer) and Loras (Finn Jones) under Cersei's (Lena Headey) influence. It also showed that the Queen of Thorns intended on leaving King's Landing just in time before Cersei and the Sparrows could destroy each other.

"We will get them back," she tells Mace in the scene. "And we will leave this miserable place, and let the Sparrows and Lannisters rip each other to pieces," she continues.

Olenna had no idea that Cersei would soon wipe out the Sparrows — and her son and grandchildren with them.

"Game of Thrones" season 7 debuts on HBO in 2017.