Should we be worried by George R.R. Martin’s silence on House of the Dragon?

HBO has made some big announcements about its Game of Thrones prequel show lately, and while he’s usually happy to chime in, George R.R. Martin has kept quiet. Why?

As we speak, HBO is hard at work on a Game of Thrones prequel series: House of the Dragon, based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, will tell the story of the Dance of the Dragons, a Targaryen civil war that tore the realm apart over one hundred years before the start of the main show. We already know quite a bit about it, including who will play some of the main roles, the lineup of directors for the first season, and that it’s filming early this year. They even made a little logo, so you know things are moving along:

The signs are all good, save one: has anyone else noticed that George R.R. Martin has been completely silent about all of this recent news?

Oh, the author is still writing on his Not a Blog. He wrote a couple of posts about Wild Cards, the series of post-apocalyptic superhero stories he edits; he wrote about a new Game of Thrones parody book from The Harvard Lampoon; wrote about how much he enjoyed The Queen’s Gabmit on Netflix, among other things. But on big announcements like Doctor Who veteran Matt Smith playing Daemon Targaryen, or actors being cast in key roles like Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower? Nothing.

Back when HBO was making casting announcements for Game of Thrones, Martin was happy to talk about casting, giving fans voluminous updates. And indeed, he’s been perfectly willing to talk about the upcoming spinoff, telling us about his thoughts on writing scripts for it, hinting at other shows HBO may have in development, or just giving us general updates. He’s even been more open to talking about his progress on The Winds of Winter lately, and that has sometime been a sore subject.

And yet, about HBO including House of the Dragon in its 2020 year-ender video…nothing.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean anything — good or bad — but his silence is noticeable.

It may be perfectly innocent. Clearly HBO is at the point where it wants to make more announcements about the show, so maybe it reminded Martin that he’d signed an NDA in an attempt to keep a lid on spoilers. Also, we should remember that Martin isn’t as involved in the production of House of the Dragon as he was on Game of Thrones. He may be learning about these choices at the same time as us, although if he were that removed I don’t see why he wouldn’t comment on them.

Unless he hates them and is just being polite by holding his tongue? That’s the worst case scenario. It’s true that some fans have had issues with the casting, and I have some worries about the way they’ve described the characters. Might Martin be silent because he shares these concerns but doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers?

Hopefully not, but I wanted to get some of these anxieties down. What you do all make of this?

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels