Happy 75th birthday to Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin!

George R.R. Martin, the man behind the books A Song of Ice and Fire and Fire & Blood (and therefore the HBO TV shows Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon) turns 75 today. What else is there to say but…happy birthday!

Martin has been a successful writer for decades, working on both books and TV shows. He published A Game of Thrones, the first book in his Song of Ice and Fire series, in 1996. But it wasn’t until HBO adapted his books as Game of Thrones that he became something of a household name, joining the ranks of celebrity authors like Stephen King or Neil Gaiman.

Martin has made the most of his notoriety. He’s consulting on shows like House of the Dragon, developing new series like Who Fears Death, and producing TV shows like Dark Winds over on AMC. And of course he continues to write The Winds of Winter, the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. He’s not writing as fast as many fans would like, but let’s not dwell on that on the man’s birthday.

AMC renews Dark Winds for a third season

As a birthday gift to Martin, AMC has renewed Dark Winds for a third season. The show is an adaptation of the Leaphorn & Chee book series by Tony Hillerman. It stars Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn and Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee, a pair of Navajo detectives working on a reservation in the American southwest in the 1970s.

Obviously I’m kidding about AMC renewing the show as a gift. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dark Winds has performed well on the network, averaging near 2 million viewers per episode for its second season. Like most studios, AMC doesn’t release numbers for its streaming service AMC+, but says season 2 has performed better than season 1.

“We started this journey with very high hopes for this series, given the remarkable source material and extraordinary creative team behind it, and it has delivered on every level,” said AMC executive Dan McDermott. “From the beloved novels, to an incredibly collaborative producing team that includes Robert Redford, George R.R. Martin, showrunner John Wirth and star Zahn McClarnon, to the entire cast and crew, there is so much storytelling yet to come in this universe. Thanks to the fans for embracing this series and the critics for celebrating and shining a light on it.”

Yeah, Robert Redford is a producer on this show too. Those are some big names behind the camera.

You can watch both seasons of Dark Winds on the AMC+ streaming service. It’s also streaming for a limited time on Max. Given the good press, I might check this one out.

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