George R.R. Martin “working directly” with HBO on new Game of Thrones shows

If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, the last week has been pretty nuts. The show ended nearly two years ago, finishing the most popular series of its time. Since then, HBO tried its hand at making a prequel, decided against it, and started making another prequel, House of the Dragon. We’ll be seeing that next year, but apparently they weren’t even close to done. In the past seven days, we’ve had reliable reports that the network is working on several other GoT series, including one about Robert’s Rebellion, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, and an animated drama.

Essentially, we’re looking at a Game of Thrones Cinematic Universe here, a GOTCU, if you will. I’ll leave it to you to discuss whether that’s a good or a bad thing, but I know it raises a lot of questions, namely: who’s planning this thing? Is Martin himself involved?

For a while, I’ve assumed the answer to that last question was no. For one thing, Martin has been clear that he’s focusing lots of attention on writing The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in his Song of Ice and Fire series, essentially isolating himself in a mountain cabin to work on it. He’s admitted that getting involved in Game of Thrones — he wrote episodes for the first four seasons — slowed him down on that front, so I can’t see him jumping back in on the production side of things.

For another, I can’t help but notice that he’s been weirdly quiet about all of this news, and about House of the Dragon before that. Martin is usually pretty free with his opinions over on his Not a Blog, but lately, not a peep about anything Westeros-related, despite the tidal wave of developments. I started to wonder if maybe he was ticked. After all, he’d previously said that he didn’t want to make shows based on either Dunk and Egg or Robert’s Rebellion, and here HBO was doing exactly that. Maybe he was mad they were going against his wishes?

George R.R. Martin is more involved with the new Game of Thrones shows than I thought

But a stray line from The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news about the animated drama, caught my eye: “Sources say development executives at HBO — led by drama head Francesca Orsi and her group — are working directly with Martin on building out the sprawling Game of Thrones world. (Martin remains under a rich overall deal with the cabler.)”

Perhaps Martin is working with HBO to develop all of this, and just isn’t saying anything because the network has asked him not to until they know more; after all, HBO hasn’t officially confirmed any of the new spinoff reports, although that wouldn’t explain Martin remaining quiet on big news like House of the Dragon casting announcements. Maybe Martin is just being part of the team, working behind the scenes to build the GOTCU (I’m seeing if that catches on) and holding his tongue until he has something official to say.

Of course, if that’s true, it raises more questions: Will this draw him away from The Winds of Winter like Game of Thrones did, dooming fans to yet more years of waiting? Just how involved could he be with the shows? If HBO really wants to make a GOTCU, it’ll need its own version of Marvel’s Kevin Feige, a ringmaster who makes sure that everything lines up. Martin has the knowledge to do that, but not the time, so even if he is working on these shows, I imagine it has to be in an advisory capacity. But then who’s the ringmaster?

What do you make of this? Do we want Martin advising on all these new shows, or is his time better spent completing The Winds of Winter and then — hopefully — A Dream of Spring?

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