George R. R. Martin says that he hopes that Game of Thrones eventually expands into a vast, Marvel-style universe. The author began publishing his fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire with the original novel Game of Thrones in 1991. Since then, he has written four additional novels in the main branch of the series, with two promised novels set to come. HBO adapted Game of Thrones into a blockbuster series in 2011, striking gold more or less instantly and earning a massive audience that would end up following the series across eight total seasons and making stars of many of the show's actors, including Emilia Clarke, Sophie Turner, and future Eternals co-stars Kit Harington and Richard Madden.

Although the series ended in 2019, breaking off in a different direction from the novels as its timeline extended past the end of the final published book, Game of Thrones has a follow-up coming to HBO on August 21, 2022. House of the Dragon is a prequel based on the first volume of Martin's spin-off fictional history novel Fire & Blood, which was published in 2018. The show, which is set 200 years before the events of the original show, will follow the fall of the Targaryen dynasty as the conversation over the succession of the Iron Throne of Westeros descends into a civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.

Related: How Many Episodes Are In House Of The Dragon Season 1

Today, Wall Street Journal ran an interview with Martin ahead of the House of the Dragon premiere. While discussing the new prequel series, he revealed that he doesn't want the franchise to end there. While he acknowledges that not all shows that are developed would reach the air, and perhaps not all the shows that air will be successful, the endgame is to "have something akin to the Marvel or Star Wars model." Read his full quote below:

How many shows will make it to air? I don’t know, but I hope the answer will be several. And we’ll have something akin to the Marvel or Star Wars model by the time it’s all settled.

Dragon over King's Landing in House of the Dragon trailer

There is certainly plenty of material left to plumb in the world of Game of Thrones. There are so many characters populating Westeros, and nearly every one of them has a past or a future that could be worth exploring. In addition to that, there are three Game of Thrones animated series currently in development at HBO, though it is unclear how many of them will make their way to the screen, especially considering the ongoing HBO Max drama that has led to a massive restructuring of the streaming service.

In the meantime, the future of the Game of Thrones franchise likely relies on the success of House of the Dragon. The shows, with their vast casts of characters and demand for wide-ranging settings and expensive special effects, cost a lot of money to produce. If House of the Dragon fails to recapture the Game of Thrones audience and make its money back, the universe might be dead in the water before it has the chance to truly begin.

Source: Wall Street Journal