George R.R. Martin’s personal idea for a Game of Thrones spin-off

We’ve been hearing about all kinds of new Game of Thrones spin-offs in development recently. Did George R.R. Martin’s pet idea get in there?

HBO is stepping up its Game of Thrones spin-off plans lately. House of the Dragon, the only one we know for sure is happening, is going full speed ahead, announcing new cast members as it barrels towards an April shoot date. We’ve also been hearing the most intriguing about other spin-offs in development, whether it’s an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk & Egg, a series that shows us what happened during Robert’s Rebellion, or an animated drama that will be “similar in tone” to the original series.

Basically, it looks like HBO wants to take Game of Thrones down the same route Disney is taking with Star Wars and Marvel and turn it into a mega-franchise, although chief content officer Casey Bloys is mindful not to overload us.

But hey, as long as they’re going all-in on spin-off shows, it might be worth revisiting the one A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin himself pitched to The New York Times back in 2018, when the spin-offs were just getting off the ground. In his own words:

"I wanted to do a show called Spear Carriers, which would actually be set during the events of Game of Thrones, but it wouldn’t be following Dany, Tyrion and Jaime. They would all be there in the background like Hamlet, and it would be more like, ‘Here’s a story about a guy in the City Watch; here’s a story about a prostitute at one of Littlefinger’s brothels; here’s a story about a mummer who’s in town to do juggling and tricks.’ And they all get caught up in the events. I think that kind of show would be a lot of fun to do. Maybe I’ll be able to convince them to do it!"

So basically it’s like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the play where Hamlet is told from the perspective of two minor characters, but in Westeros.

Would that work? Maybe! It strikes me as a particularly good fit for the animated show they’re apparently making; I’m guessing it would be expensive for a live-action series to have new sets and actors and everything for each episode, but making it animated could cut way down on that. For all we know, that’s the animated idea already under discussion.

Or maybe not. We’ll have to wait to be sure, and we don’t know how long. House of the Dragon is due to hit our screens in 2022, and anything else they make will come along some time after that. But at least there are plenty of ideas to choose from.

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