George RR Martin has announced that a Game of Thrones story is coming and despite the expectations of fans, it isn’t the highly-anticipated “Winds of Winter.” The novelist will instead publish a short story, “The Sons of the Dragon,” which is a part of an anthology titled “The Book of Swords.” The new story will come out in October.
According to George, Game of Thrones fans who are “fascinated by the politics of Westeros” will love the back story. He wrote on his blog that the story “chronicles the reigns of the second and third Targaryen kings… along with their mothers, wives, sisters, children, friends, enemies, and rivals.” The story can be likened to a history book.
With George’s announcement, is it possible that HBO will turn “The Sons of the Dragon” to a show? Rumors have previously surfaced that the network will continue the fantasy series through a back story and not a sequel – something that would have “less pressure” as per HBO programming president Casey Bloys.
She recently told Entertainment Weekly that it “would be foolish to not to explore” such an immense property, but at the same time, the network won’t continue Game of Thrones for the sake of just doing it. “It has to feel very special,” she remarked.
As its title suggests, “The Sons of the Dragon” will center on Maegor and Aenys, two of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragon-loving ancestors.
Game of Thrones Season 7 is set to come out in a few months and Emilia Clarke, who plays the fan-favorite Mother of Dragons , describes the season as a “mind blower.” The British actress shared on Instagram that it’s her last day of filming for the new season.
Maisie Williams echoes Emilia’s belief and teases via Independent that Game of Thrones Season 7 will have a “huge cliffhanger.”
“It’s just kind of tumbling now. We’ve come to the climax and it’s rolling down to the end. It’s exciting. I really felt like at the end of last season everything was set up for how it was going to end. Every character came to a little junction in their lives. Now we’re all going to crash down together to however this show ends.”
When Is “Winds of Winter” Coming Out?
Fans have been waiting for the sixth installment in George’s “A Song of Ice and Fire Saga” for over five years. The author has missed several deadlines in the past prompting him to ask fans to stop speculating for the book would come out once it’s done.
When asked by a fan recently about an update, he gave a promising response on his blog . He said that the book’s “not done yet” but he thinks “it will be out this year.” However, he also reminded fans that he thought the same last year but he failed to reach a key deadline.
Winter is indeed coming in the latest book and George added that it “is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for.”
Meanwhile, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau chooses to use his Game of Thrones fame to encourage people to do something for his ailing homeland. The Jaime Lannister actor, who is likewise a UN Goodwill Ambassador, is working with Google to obtain panoramic vistas of Greenland’s ice that is rapidly melting.
He shared on his blog that pictures should be enough to let everyone know about Greenland’s state.
“Statistics, scientific reports and graphs can be bewildering but I hope seeing these images will help people understand the drastic changes taking place in Greenland, and inspire you to fall in love with it the way I have.”
At the end of the video, he urged people to stand up against climate change.
“The climate is changing, but we can do something about. We have the technology, we have the brilliant minds. But we need the will, and it’s really the will of the people, because at the end of the day, we are the ones to decide.”
“The Sons of the Dragon” is out on October 10 while Game of Thrones Season 7 will premiere in April.
[Featured Image by HBO]
