Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin says HBO Max/WB shakeups have impacted development on the spinoffs. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series spawned a television phenomenon with HBO’s Game of Thrones. Having learned how huge big-budget fantasy storytelling could be on TV, HBO later moved to follow up GoT by launching a whole flotilla of spinoffs. And going all-in on GoT was proven to be a good gamble when the first of these spinoffs, House of the Dragon, arrived to huge fanfare and massive ratings in 2022.
But now the future of some of these planned GoT spinoffs may be in peril, at least according to Game of Thrones originator Martin. Things are indeed up-in-the-air at HBO Max after highly-publicized shakeups within parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, shakeups that led to projects like the highly-touted Batgirl movie being shelved. And it seems these HBO Max issues have reverberated all the way down to where Martin and company are as they work on getting more GoT follow-ups to the screen. Martin himself recently gave the unhappy status update on his blog. Read the author’s remarks in the space below:
I did take a few days off for the holidays, I confess. Shame on me, I guess. But now I am back in the salt mine, working… working on so many bloody things, my head may soon explode. Yes, WINDS OF WINTER, yes, yes. And HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, season two. And several of the other successor shows that we’re developing with HBO. (Some of those are moving faster than others, as is always the case with development. None have been greenlit yet, though we are hoping… maybe soon. A couple have been shelved, but I would not agree that they are dead. You can take something off the shelf as easily as you can put it on the shelf. All the changes at HBO Max have impacted us, certainly).
Which Game of Thrones Spinoffs Are Safe, and Which Ones Are In Trouble?
Martin understandably does not get specific about which planned GoT spinoffs have been shelved and which are still alive. Were one to take a shot-in-the-dark guess however, it would seem the Jon Snow sequel starring a returning Kit Harington is the safest of all the shows that have been reported to be in development. Snow is of course a hugely recognizable character from the original Game of Thrones, and having Harington back in the role is a major plus. Jon Snow is also the only known spinoff that’s an actual sequel instead of a prequel, giving it a possible leg-up. There's also already a trailer out there, which must be considered a good sign.
After the seeming sure-bet Jon Snow, it’s much tougher to guess which spinoffs might be in the most trouble amid HBO Max’s larger issues. The Sea Snake spinoff centered on House of the Dragon character Corlys Velaryon and his epic voyages might seem relatively safe given that the character is already familiar to fans. But is a Sea Snake show really something WBD wants to sink resources into, when they’re clearly being more selective about what they greenlight? Less familiar to casual GoT fans is Princess Nymeria of the Rhoyne, who was supposed to be featured in a spinoff referred to as 10,000 Ships – a spinoff that, going by Martin’s remarks, may already have been shelved.
If Sea Snake and Princess Nymeria are in danger of never getting their spinoffs, then it must also be assumed the planned Tales of Dunk & Egg show is on the hot seat too, given how much of a deep dive into Martin’s works that project already was. On the animated side of things, HBO was at various times reported to be working on at least one and possibly three shows, one set in the so-far unseen Golden Empire of Yi Ti. It clearly remains to be seen which of these shows will make it to screens, and which will end up on the scrapheap alongside already-dead Game of Thrones spinoffs Bloodmoon and Flea Bottom.
Source: George R.R. Martin