George R.R. Martin breaks his silence on Game of Thrones prequels

AUTHOR George R.R. Martin has finally provided details about the Game of Thrones prequels in development at HBO.

George R.R. Martin has broken his silence on Game of Thrones prequels in development at HBO. Picture: Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for Miller Lite

AUTHOR George R.R. Martin has finally broken his silence about the Game of Thrones prequels in development at HBO.

Posting to his online journal on Sunday night, Martin dropped a tonne of details about the potential shows.

THEY’RE NOT SPIN-OFFS

Martin objected to the term “spin-off”, which typically refers to a sequel using at least one pre-existing character.

“What we’re talking about are new stories set in the ‘secondary universe’ (to borrow Tolkien’s term) of Westeros and the world beyond, the world I created for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE,” he wrote.

“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 ‘spin-off’ or ‘prequel,’ however, I prefer the term ‘successor show’.”

Send a raven.
Behold the first official photos from #GoTS7. See them all: https://t.co/jCVym1eicI pic.twitter.com/LGE5GZ42Vu

— Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) April 20, 2017

MARTIN IS INVOLVED

The author said he has been involved in the successor shows “for months”. Martin said he will work with all four writers — Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island, Fox’s Minority Report); Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service, X-Men: First Class); Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale, L.A. Confidential); and Carly Wray (Mad Men).

However he later said there are currently five scripts in development, with a fifth writer added to the original four.

“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,” he wrote.

He also wrote that five pilot scripts are out there, but he doesn’t know how many of those will get made.

George R.R. Martin said he is involved in the Game of Thrones prequels. Picture: AFP/Getty/Jason Merritt

PREQUELS AREN’T FROM DUNK & EGG TALES

“Eventually, sure, I’d love that, and so would many of you. But I’ve only written and published three novellas to date, and there are at least seven or eight or ten more I want to write,” he wrote.

“We all know how slow I am, and how fast a television show can move. I don’t want to repeat what happened with Game of Thrones itself, where the show gets ahead of the books. When the day comes that I’ve finished telling all my tales of Dunk & Egg, then we’ll do a TV show about them … but that day is still a long ways off.”

STOP EVERYTHING. @GameOfThrones' Season 7 photos have dropped. https://t.co/xMsijAAo4i pic.twitter.com/k1H5PZsnkJ

— Michael Ausiello (@MichaelAusiello) April 20, 2017

NOTHING FROM ROBERT’S REBELLION, EITHER

“I know thousands of you want that, I know there’s a petition ... but by the time I finish writing A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, you will know every important thing that happened in Robert’s Rebellion,” Martin wrote.

“There would be no surprises or revelations left in such a show, just the acting out of conflicts whose resolutions you already know. That’s not a story I want to tell just now; it would feel too much like a twice-told tale.”

Robert’s Rebellion, also known as the War of the Usurper,[ was a rebellion against House Targaryen, primarily instigated by Eddard Stark (pictured), Jon Arryn, and Robert Baratheon. Picture: Supplied

THE WINDS OF WINTER IS COMING

Martin said he is still working on his forthcoming book, writing: “I will confess, I do wish I could clone myself, or find a way to squeeze more hours into the day, or a way to go without sleep.”

The seventh season of Game of Thrones debuts on July 16 on HBO.