George R.R. Martin Doubts Game of Thrones Spinoffs Will Be as Successful as Original Series

HBO just wrapped up its illustrious eight-season run on Game of Thrones and the premium cable network is hard at work on several spinoffs to the award-winning show. George R.R. Martin, the creator and novelist behind the entire property, has since gone on record saying he's not sure any spinoff can come close to being as successful as the main record-setting show.

"The scale of 'Game of Thrones's' success has — reaching all over the world and invading the culture to [such an extent] — it's not something anyone could ever anticipate, not something I expect to ever experience again," Martin said on Maltin on Movies, a podcast hosted by critic Leonard Maltin and his daughter Jessie.

The writer didn't stop there but instead went on to talk about the general fan response to the final season of Game of Thrones, saying various fandoms are now more toxic than they've ever been.

"The Internet is toxic in a way that old fanzine culture and fandoms — comics fans, science fiction fans — in those days, was not," he said. "There were disagreements. There were feuds, but nothing like the madness that you see on the internet."

When the series first wrapped, many fans were interested in whether any of the spinoffs in development would serve as sequels starring Maisie Williams Arya Stark. That was a notion quickly shot down by HBO programming exec Casey Bloys.

"Nope, nope, nope," Bloys says if any of the series will be a sequel. "No. Part of it is, I do want this show — this Game of Thrones, Dan and David's show — to be its own thing. I don't want to take characters from this world that they did beautifully and put them off into another world with someone else creating it."

"I want to let it be the artistic piece they've got. That's one of reasons why I'm not trying to do the same show over," the programing exec continues. "George has massive, massive world; there are so many ways in. That's why we're trying to do things that feel distinct — and to not try and re-do the same show. That's probably one of the reasons why, right now, a sequel or picking up any of the other characters doesn't make sense for us."

What do you hope the Game of Thrones prequels will be about? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are now streaming through HBO's various streaming platforms, including HBO Go, HBO Now, and the HBO app on Amazon Prime Video.