George R.R. Martin pitched HBO on a new Game of Thrones show—They said no

A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin continues his tour of the British Isles, talking up a storm along the way. Just the other day, he spoke with JOE at the Irish Film Institute, and even the interviewer wasn’t supposed to ask him about the end of Game of Thrones or The Winds of Winter, but Martin was happy to bring up both.

But his most interesting commentary may have been about HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel(s). We know of one — called either Blood Moon or The Long Night depending on who you ask — that recently finished shooting a pilot. “I just saw [showrunner Jane Goldman] in London, she’s deep in the throes of post-production,” Martin said. “I hope to see a cut of it (the pilot) probably by early September.”

"Jane’s show takes place like 5,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones. In some way, Jane’s show is based on eight random sentences that are scattered through the books! She has really brought a lot to the table.We met in Santa Fe on a couple of occasions and in LA, we’ve had long discussions about the show before she went off to make it, but she’s only had a few little signposts for this show along he way. She’s really bringing a lot to the table. It’s before the coming of the Andals, I guess.I really can’t talk anymore about this because HBO will have kittens! They’re very secretive. They don’t want anything given away that might be a spoiler."

One of the things I love most about Martin — and there’s a lot — is how he’ll freely admit that he shouldn’t be talking about secrets and then divulge some anyway. Sure, he didn’t give away anything major here, but at least we now know more about his involvement with Goldman’s prequel and when HBO is expecting a rough cut of the pilot. Keep it coming, George!

Martin also went into detail on a series he pitched to HBO: Spear Carriers, a series that would retell the story of Game of Thrones from the perspective of the common folk:

"I pitched it to HBO but they didn’t seem enthused about it. I always wondered when you write these scenes, there are other people in the background and I often wondered about them. What are they thinking? What are they feeling? They’re about to go into battle to. Are they enthused about it? What happened after the battle? How did it affect their lives?It’s a little Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. That play is such a brilliant conceit as you follow these two guys with Hamlet going on in the background. Meanwhile, these two guys have their own problems and I thought Spear Carriers would be an interesting anthology show. We could actually use footage from Game of Thrones over again.For example, show Tyrion giving his speech before battle but instead of following him into the battle, follow one of the guys that’s hearing the speech. What happened to him? Did he lose a leg, or something like that.What does his wife do afterwards? Follow one of the prostitutes in Littlefinger’s brothels, how did she get to that brothel? Who’s she sleeping with and what secrets can she learn to pass onto Littlefinger? There’s a million stories there."

It’s a cute idea, but I think I get why HBO turned it down; it seems a little indulgent and in-jokey for a show that would probably have cost a lot of money. So far as shows about the common people go, I’m personally still pulling for a sitcom revolving around Hot Pie set at the Inn at the Crossroads. I’ll just go write it in my dream journal.

Finally, Martin — as he has before — reminded people that there are other Game of Thrones prequel shows still in development, although I imagine HBO would rather people just focus on the way getting made. “[T]here are two others that are still in the script stage,” Martin said.

The really interesting bit came when he hinted at what they could be about. “[O]f course we’re developing a number of Game of Thrones prequels that are drawn in large part from Fire and Blood, the book of Targaryen history that I had out in November.”

I’m sorry, did Martin just confirm that HBO is working on prequel series revolving around events like Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros or the Dance of the Dragons? See why I love this guy?

When asked what from his catalog he’d like to see adapted, Martin again brought up Fire and Blood. “[T]here’s 20 novels there and at least a dozen TV shows if they want to make them. There will be equally as many in Fire and Blood: Part Two.”

I mean…I wouldn’t call this confirmation, because Martin probably isn’t working with perfect information, but the signposts are pretty clear. I think we have a better idea of what those other prequel series may be about.

Okay, enough about the prequels. While Martin didn’t share any of his feelings about the end of Game of Thrones, he did delineate how the show had split from the books, another favorite topic of his:

"There’s enough material in the books that if they had included all of it, we could have gone for 13 seasons instead of eight. Really, we did seven-and-a-half seasons because the last two seasons were shortened.The decision was made four/five years ago to eliminate characters like Lady Stoneheart, Quentyn Martell, the Young Griff arc. When you eliminate all those subplots, you simplify things and bring it to an end where it is.Who knows? Maybe that was the right decision. You can’t quarrel with the most popular television show in the world, but I have my books in mind and I’m going ahead. I know I’m very slow, but I’ll get there eventually."

And finally, he pontificated on the nature of his enormous success. “Fortune is great, but fame is a double-edged sword.”

"I mean, there are wonderful things about it. For example, I don’t think I’d be here at the Irish Film Institute if I didn’t have a certain amount of fame, or getting some of the interviews I’m getting and this level of publicity. Many people also go out of their way to take care of me at restaurants and movie theatres etc. Fame is great for all of that, but you can’t turn it off. It’s relentless and I’ve found that over the last decade.We have the world sci-fi convention going on right now and I’ve been attending that since ’71.  In that subculture of sci-fi fandom, I always had a certain amount of fame where I could put on my name badge, go on panels and people would ask my autograph. At the end of the panel, I could take off my name badge and just go out onto the floor and be an average guy.I can’t do that anymore.That can be trying at times. I’m glad that fame came to me in my sixties. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be these young pop stars that become world famous and instantly recognisable all over the world at 17 years of age. I couldn’t have handled any of this at 17. There are enough challenges at handling this at 65, I can tell you!"

Martin is usually so quiet that getting a torrent of information like this is almost overwhelming. And the guy clearly likes to talk. I’m torn between wanting him to get back to his “mountain hideaway” and work on Winds and wanting him to give more interviews.

Anyway, you can read more of Martin’s thoughts here!

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