‘Game Of Thrones’: George R. R. Martin Weighs In On All Those Spin-Offs Being Developed By HBO

Recently, fans of Game of Thrones got excited over the news that, potentially, four new spin-off series were in the works by HBO. Now, author George R. R. Martin has weighed in on what this actually means for Game of Thrones.

HBO’s Game of Thrones is reaching its final episodes. Seasons 7 and 8 of the hit fantasy show will air with shortened seasons in order to maintain the integrity of the story. However, considering how much of a draw card Game of Thrones is to HBO, it was only a matter of time before the prospect of spin-off series were seriously considered. Along with the news, there are currently four Game of Thrones spin-off series up for consideration, Sky News revealed that George R.R. Martin has also announced a fifth one is in development.

“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.”

Currently, Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland, and Carly Wray have been confirmed as the writers involved with the first four concepts announced by HBO. However, George R.R. Martin would like to point out that not all of these Game of Thrones concepts will even involve characters fans already know from the television series.

“We are not talking Joey or AfterMASH or even Frazier or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another,” he explained on his personal blog.

In fact, some of these spin-offs might not even occur in Westeros. Although, considering just how many characters have already been introduced in Game of Thrones, and the amount that have been left out from the book series, it’s hardly a long stretch to consider the universe created by George R.R. Martin is vast. In fact, the author prefers the term “successor show” to describe these spin-offs in development. In a way, these new developments could be likened to what AMC have done within their Walking Dead universe when they created webisodes dedicated to characters not seen in the original series or how they developed their breakaway series, Fear The Walking Dead.

Now, while this looks like HBO is in negotiations to milk the Game of Thrones universe for every last drop of revenue, what this actually means is that HBO is merely considering some of the options out there in relation to the vast world George R.R. Martin has created. This certainly doesn’t mean that HBO will pick up all five Game of Thrones spin-offs currently in the development stage.

George R.R. Martin took to his blog to clear up some of the confusion over how many Game of Thrones series fans were likely to see on HBO.

“Some of the reports of these developments seem to suggest that HBO might be adding four successor shows to the schedule to replace Game of Thrones. Decades of experience in television and film have taught me that nothing is ever really certain… but I do think it’s very unlikely that we’ll be getting four (or five) series. At least not immediately. What we do have here is an order for four — now five — pilot scripts. How many pilots will be filmed, and how many series might come out of that, remains to be seen. (If we do get five series on the air, I might have to change my name to Dick Direwolf).”

So, there you have it. While there is the potential for five Game of Thrones spin-off programs, it seems highly unlikely all will make it past the development stages at HBO.

What do you think about the potential spin-offs for HBO’s Game of Thrones? Let us know by commenting below.

Season 7 of HBO’s Game of Thrones will premiere on July 16, 2017, with a shortened season.

[Featured Image by Steve Snowden/Getty Images]