‘Game Of Thrones’ Creator George RR Martin Gives Details On 5 Spinoff TV Shows


There are only two seasons left of HBO’s Game of Thrones, the fantasy series created by author George RR Martin that is based on his A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels. Many fans are screaming for George RR Martin to sack up and finish writing his books instead of focusing on the TV that is pretty much on autopilot by now, but Martin has other plans for himself.

He recently announced that the when HBO wraps on Game of Thrones after the next two seasons there will be spinoff shows in the works. At first, many people took this to mean that we might see shows where the main characters are spun off into new shoes like Joey after Friends, or some bullshit like that.

To set the record straight, George RR Martin updated his LiveJournal blog with details of what these spinoffs will look like. For starters, there are five scripts in the works. This doesn’t mean that we’ll actually see five spinoff shows, that’s just how many he’s trying to get HBO to look at.

Here are some excerpts from Martin’s update:

None of these new shows will be ‘spinning off’ from GOT in the traditional sense. We are not talking Joey or AfterMASH or even Frazier or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another. So all of you who were hoping for the further adventures of Hot Pie are doomed to disappointment. Every one of the concepts under discussion is a prequel, rather than a sequel. Some may not even be set on Westeros. Rather than ‘spinoff’ or ‘prequel,’ however, I prefer the term ‘successor show.’ That’s what I’ve been calling them.
Yes, I am involved, and have been for months. I had my first meeting with HBO about the possibility of a successor show back in August, when I pitched them two possible series. (One of those is among the concepts being developed, one is not). In the months that followed, other writers were brought in and pitched other ideas. Ultimately HBO decided to go ahead with four separate developments, to be written by Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland, and Carly Wray.


And there’s more. We had four scripts in development when I arrived in LA last week, but by the time I left we had five. We have added a fifth writer to the original four. No, I will not reveal the name here. HBO announced the names of the first four, and will no doubt announce the fifth as well, once his deal has closed. He’s a really terrific addition, however, a great guy and a fine writer, and aside from me and maybe Elio and Linda, I don’t know anyone who knows and loves Westeros as well as he does.

You can read George RR Martin’s full blog post here.

So. What we’re looking at are 5 potential spinoff shows. Most likely, they are prequels or they are going to be about tangentially related characters that fit within the realm of Westeros but whom haven’t been introduced to Game of Thrones fans yet.

A betting man could see this as something akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With all of these related stories, intermingling and all headed across tangentially related plot lines. Whatever the future holds…I’m excited.

[h/t Variety]