Not satisified with trying to develop multiple projects in the Game of Thrones pantheon for its viewers, HBO has signed A Song of Ice and Fire creator George R.R. Martin to “a massive overall deal” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Martin’s deal will be for him to “develop more programming for the network and its streaming service, HBO Max,” with the traden oting that it was “worth mid-eight figures.” In addition to potentially bringing original programs to HBO and working on the Thrones spin-offs, Martin is also developing the series Who Fears Death, based on the 2011 novel by Nnedi Okorafor, and Roadmarks, an adaptation of thje 1979 fantasy novel.
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Even before Martin’s new deal the premium cable network was already hard at work trying to further develop the world of Game of Thrones into more shows. HBO has already ordered House of the Dragon, a prequel focusing on House Targaryen some three centuries before the events of the flagship series, with multiple others also in the works. Another Thrones project in the works is 10,000 Ships (working title), focusing on warrior queen Nymeria some 1,000 years before the original show; 9 Voyages, following Lord Corlys Velaryon aka The Sea Snake; a Dunk and Egg spin-off based on his novella series; and a reported animated series set in the world.
Despite his new deal with HBO, which will effect only new projects and Martin’s titles not tied up in other deals, the author has a number of other projects in the works at other television destinations. It was recently confirmed that his Wild Cards series, which was in the works at Hulu, has now moved over to NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service. In addition adaptations of the Lost Lands is in the works with Paul W.S. Anderson directing while Gore Verbinski is directing an adaptation of Sandkings for Netflix.
Even with all this TV work, Martin remains committed to writing prose when he’s able. Game of Throne readers have been waiting on the highly anticipated The Winds of Winter and Martin offered an update on the book in a blog post where he said:
“I wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages of The Winds of Winter in 2020,” Martin said back in February. “The best year I’ve had on [the book] since I began it. Why? I don’t know. Maybe the isolation. Or maybe I just got on a roll. Sometimes I do get on a roll. I need to keep rolling, though. I still have hundreds of more pages to write to bring the novel to a satisfactory conclusion. That’s what 2021 is for, I hope.”
Martin said he plans to finish the novel in 2021, he also wrote that he has “a zillion other things to do as well.” His new HBO deal certainly among them.
(Cover photo by Liam McBurney/PA Images via Getty Images)
