Good news, folks! For those that were concerned that author George R.R. Martin was stopping his blogging altogether after he ended his LiveJournal, never fear! The author is at it again blogging on his own domain, and best of all, he kept the entire look and feel of LiveJournal to stoke your early-2000s nostalgia.
In a new post on his “Not a Blog” blog, Martin takes time from his busy not-writing the latest ‘Game of Thrones’ novel schedule and sheds some light on those “Game of Thrones” prequels coming to HBO. Recently, we reported that HBO was moving forward with one prequel, spearheaded by “Kingsman” writer Jane Goldman, and Martin confirms that, while also offering up a title he likes.
“Yes, this is a prequel, not a sequel,” explains Martin. “None of the characters or actors from ‘Game of Thrones’ will appear in the new show…This one really puts the PRE in prequel, since it is set not ninety years before ‘Game of Thrones’ (like ‘Dunk & Egg’), or a few hundred years, but rather ten thousand years (well, assuming the oral histories of the First Men are accurate, but there are maesters at the Citadel who insist it has only been half that long). We’re very early in the process, of course, with the pilot order just in, so we don’t have a director yet, or a cast, or a location, or even a title. (My vote would be ‘The Long Night,’ which says it all, but I’d be surprised if that’s where we end up. More likely HBO will want to work the phrase “game of thrones” in there somewhere. We’ll know sooner or later).”
He goes on to confirm that Goldman is the showrunner and has penned the pilot script. But moving on to the other prequels that are in development, the author shares some insight on those, as well.
“As for the other successor shows… if you have been following along, you know that we started with four, and eventually went to five. One of those has been shelved, I am given to understand, and of course Jane’s pilot is now moving to film. But that does not mean the others are dead. Three more ‘Game of Thrones’ prequels, set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, remain in active development. Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come. We do have an entire world and tens of thousands of years of history to play with, after all. But this is television, so nothing is certain,” he says.
And finally, for those still waiting on the latest “Game of Thrones” novel, Martin does offer a little hope. Emphasis on “a little.” He says that “Winds of Winter” “remains my top priority.” We’ll see about that.