George R.R. Martin’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Greenlit By HBO

We had a Screen Rant reader request inquiring if we could find any information on a possible television series that may spring up on HBO, based on the book series called A Song of Ice and Fire. The book series has become a TV project and it looks like they’re starting from the beginning as the TV project is called Game of Thrones.

I can imagine this makes the community of George R. R. Martin fans pretty happy.

A Sparse Outline On The Book Series

A Song of Ice and Fire book series is written by American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. It takes place in a fictional realm on the continent of Westeros and other surrounding lands. The characters are mostly human who deal with “others” from the north or fire-breathing dragons from the east.

The series touches on a dynastic civil war for control of Westeros, rising threats from outside of Westeros and an exiled daughter of a once murdered king, as she looks to return to Westeros to claim her rightful throne.

The three story lines are said to be well interwoven upon each other.

Taking place in a fictional land helps, as the series is said to be inspired more by medieval history.  Medieval times is an awesome time period for fantasy and romantic premises. There’s lots of room to create new and different origins without the restrictions that come from the reality of it all!

I think one of the draws of the books is the comparison to Rome and Deadwood, with its underlying adult themes of crafty writing alluding to sex and the obvious violence surrounding the three story lines. It seems to be a popular mix of plot delivery as the book series has been placed as the number 2 rated series at the Internet Book List as of March 10, 2009.

Is There Any News On The Television Series?

In January of 2007, fans of the series found a little bit of hope. It was reported that HBO acquired the rights to the books with the intent of creating a dramatic series. (At least they beat Sci-Fi to it.)  Of course a studio optioning rights can sometimes mean they’re going to sit on them for 10 years sometimes, and Martin even cautioned against too much optimism at first.

As it stood, the plan laid out by HBO was that the series would be written and exec produced by David Benioff (Troy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and D.B. Weiss (Halo draft, prequel to I am Legend. Oh!  Did I just say prequel?). They were hoping to shoot in Europe or New Zealand.

The next bit of news then came around November of 2008 with a few new developments.

The project is now called Game of Thrones, as in the title of the first book.  The co-executive producers lined up were reported to be former HBO entertainment prexy Carolyn Strauss, Guymon Casady, Vincent Gerardis and the book series author himself, Geroge R. R. Martin. I always like seeing the author of the inspiration for a show on the creative team. It increases the chance of the project having a bit more of the original authors vision, or voice in the project.

I came across some unsubstantiated information that they will begin filming later this year in Ireland.  But I saw only reference to this in a bulletin board and so the warning label!

This project is one of a dozen projects that HBO is looking at in hopes of increasing their number of original series over the upcoming 2-year period. Which is a nice change of pace from the reality noise we keep having to put up with.  Crap… I may actually have to get HBO? They do pump out some nice, gritty content that captures our imaginations.

Screen Rant Is On The Case

Now that I’ve started investigating this new series, whenever we see new information, we’ll be sure to update you.

So now I’m curious.  With you, the expert fans, what are you hoping for with the show?  Are you looking for the dark, flawed characters or kicking some dragon butt?  What actor / actress would be perfect for the different characters?  Let us know what you think!

Sources: Wikipedia, IB List, Winter Is Coming, Variety; Cover Art Image: GeorgeRRMartin.com