Game of Thrones fans might have a reason not to cancel their HBO after the last episode airs. George R. R. Martin has announced in a blog post that HBO will release not one, but three Game of Thrones spinoffs, or “successor shows,” as he calls them. In his latest post, the Game of Thrones creator stated that, “We have had five different GAME OF THRONES successor shows in development (I mislike the term “spinoffs”) at HBO, and three of them are still moving forward nicely. The one I am not supposed to call THE LONG NIGHT will be shooting later this year, and two other shows remain in the script stage, but are edging closer.”
HBO programming president Casey Bloys spoke to Entertainment Weekly concerning the spinoffs two years ago, announcing at the time that, “In the press at large, everybody said, ‘there are four spinoffs’ and they assume that means each one is happening and we’re going to have a new Game of Thrones show per quarter.” However, what made everyone believe only one would be possible was what followed: “That’s not what’s going on. The idea is not to do four shows. The bar set by [Benioff and Weiss] is so high that my hope is to get one show that lives up to it.”
This has fans wondering who is correct, or if Martin meant something different by his statement. After nonchalantly throwing it out there that five spinoffs are in the works, with three seemingly eminent, Martin goes on to another topic. Or does he? Fans are now wondering if his discussion of his latest novel, ‘Fire & Blood,’ has to do with the spinoffs as well.
According to Deadline, Bob Greenblatt, the new chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment and head of HBO confirmed the possible continuation of the Game of Thrones universe. “But we have to be really thoughtful about not killing the golden goose and not putting on shows that aren’t up to that quality level, and how many is too many,” Greenblatt told Deadline. “We’re having all those conversations. I don’t know yet what will come of all this material, but I think they’ve been smartly developing things that were really good ideas in this universe, and George Martin is involved. There’s a prequel in production, but just a pilot so that we can see if it has all the goods and is it worthy of going forward. We’re just trying to be really thoughtful about how to expand this universe if it makes sense, and not, like I said, kill the golden goose.”