George R.R. Martin sent a raven Wednesday with updates on his highly anticipated new projects on his blog.
The 73-year old fantasy author behind “Game of Thrones” (and creative contributor to the just-dropped “Elden Ring” video game) cast some light on the numerous “GoT” prequel series that are in the works. Perhaps more importantly to his O.G. fans, he confirmed that he is still plugging away at his long-delayed novel “The Winds of Winter,” the sixth of seven planned doorstopper books in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series from which “Game of Thrones” and the entire Westeros mythos derives.
“Winds of Winter,” which was originally due to be published in 2016, is still coming, he says, but as a way of excusing himself for its absence, he wrote that Westeros is bigger than just one project now. But working in that world (and not, one can infer, new video games) is his “number one priority,” he said.
He confirmed that numerous live-action series are in the works at HBO, and there are animated projects in development at HBO Max. He also suggested that they are in greater number than have been reported.
Martin wrote that, contrary to some scuttlebutt, he is heavily involved with the prequel series in development. “House of the Dragon,” which will be first out of the gate later this year, is wrapped and “what I have seen, I have loved,” he wrote. “I am eager to see more.” The show focuses on the origins of House Targaryen and stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, and Rhys Ifans. “GoT” vets Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan J. Condal serve as showrunners.
Martin also dished that Bruno Heller, creator of HBO’s “Rome,” wrote the pilot script for a Corlys Velaryon series. It was previously bandied about as “Nine Voyages” but will now be called “The Sea Snake.” The name change, he says, is to avoid two projects with numerical names, because they’ve also got something called “Ten Thousand Ships” in the works.
This one is described as “a Nymeria series” and its showrunner is Amanda Segel, whose producing credits include “Helstrom” and “Person of Interest.”
Also in the pipeline is a series based on the Dunk and Egg stories, including an adaptation of the novella “The Hedge Knight.” The show will not be called “Dunk and Egg,” (Martin doesn’t want it confused with a sitcom) but a final title hasn’t been settled on. “The Hedge Knight” is a possibility, as is “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” Steve Conrad, writer of “The Pursuit of Happyness,” Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” and the Amazon series “Patriot,” is hard at work on the scripts.
While hesitant to talk about the animation material in the pipeline, Martin did confirm a rumor that one of the shows is set in Ti Yi, a faraway realm in Essos. He says the “art and animation is beautiful,” and wishes he could say more. The working title is “The Golden Empire.”
As for the publishing world, in addition to promising that, yes, yes, he swears he is working on “The Winds of Winter,” he needs to write more Dunk and Egg stories (especially with the series in the works) and finish his second volume of Archmaester Gyldayn’s “Fire & Blood” history. (It may be called “Blood & Fire,” just to mix it up.) There’s also a “lavish” illustrated “Fire & Blood” coffee table book coming this year.
On top of all this, the Bayonne, New Jersey-born author added that he’s also still involved in “Roadmarks” for HBO (based on a Roger Zelazny sci-fi novel from the late 1970s), “Dark Winds” for AMC (a noir-thriller based on a Tony Hillerman book series whose other executive producers include Robert Redford), “Wild Cards” for Peacock (based on a collaborative series of science fiction stories written by a murderer’s row in the genre, long co-edited by Martin and “Star Trek” alumnus Melinda Snodgrass, who is also executive producing), and he’s nearing completion on “Night of the Cooters,” a short film he wrote, directed by Vincent D’Onofrio.
Sounds to me that somewhere in Martin’s office he’s got a quorum of Red Priests who have figured out how to stuff more than 24 hours into one day.
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