George R.R. Martin has provided news that’s bound to reassure fans who’ve been worrying about the extent of his involvement in the several Game of Thrones prequels and spinoffs currently in development. Martin, who’s best known for writing A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, was creatively involved in its television adaptation, Game of Thrones, for the first four seasons.
After exhausting the source material, Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff began diverging from Martin’s template. The pair took significant creative liberties, sometimes against Martin’s advice, and ultimately decided to end the show prematurely. While there were some incredible moments in the sixth and seventh seasons, the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones ended on an extremely unsatisfying note. What followed were some of the most critical and toxic fan reactions ever, with many vehemently demanding a complete do-over of the final season. While that’s unlikely to happen, HBO has instead greenlit a prequel show, House of the Dragon.
George R.R. Martin is credited as a co-creator of the show alongside Ryan J. Condal. Martin has already given House of the Dragon his seal of approval and promised that it’ll exceed fans expectations. There is still no word on House of the Dragon’s release date, but Martin revealed on his blog that the show is in post-production now and will arrive soon. He also revealed the extent of his involvement in the other Game of Thrones successor shows currently in development.
"Those have taken a ton of my time and attention this year. I have seen some comments out there questioning how much I am involved in these new series. The answer is: a lot. Deeply, heavily involved in every one of the new shows. It’s my world, and while I have been working closely with some fantastic writers and showrunners, ultimately it is up to me to try to keep the canon… well, canonical… and to do all I can to help make the new shows great. (And I love these stories too)."
Martin also gave an update on the status of the long-anticipated The Winds of Winter. "Yes, of course, I am still working on THE WINDS OF WINTER. I have stated that a hundred times in a hundred venues, having to restate it endlessly is just wearisome. I made a lot of progress on WINDS in 2020, and less in 2021… but ‘less’ is not ‘none.’"
It sounds like The Winds of Winter is not hitting the bookstores anytime soon, but fans have waited this long, what’s another couple of years.
HBO is Committed To Expand The Game of Thrones Franchise
The upcoming series, House of the Dragon, is just one of many Game of Thrones spinoffs happening at HBO. An untitled prequel set 10,000 years before Game of Thrones and based on the origins of the white walkers was scrapped even though the studio spent $30 million on the pilot episode.
Steve Conrad (Amazon’s Patriot) has signed on to write a prequel show (previously titled Dunk & Egg) featuring the characters Ser Duncan the Tall and Aegon V Targaryen. As per Martin, the show will now be called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms or The Hedge Knight. Another live-action series, Ten Thousand Ships, is also moving ahead with showrunner Amanda Segel.
The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller is developing The Sea Snake (previously titled Nine Voyages), and two animated shows are also in development. Will all these shows be enough to fill the void left by Game of Thrones, or will the contentious finale continue to haunt the fans? It remains to be seen, but it’s a relief that George Martin will be actively involved. Hopefully, he will finish the final two books soon.