George R.R. Martin was surprised by HBO’s plans for multiple Game of Thrones spinoff shows

Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon is one of the most anticipated shows of 2022, and is currently, a high-priority project at HBO. However, the prequel show, based on the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, wasn’t the only idea under development. There were several others, and Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin wasn’t expecting that, especially after how badly the final season of the epic fantasy was treated by the fans and the critics.

In an interview for the book Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, Martin discusses how he reacted when he first came to know of HBO’s plans for the GOTverse. He said:

“I suddenly found out that they had put four prequels in motion. The ‘Dance of the Dragons’ idea was just one of them. And the other three were ideas that had come from other people who I guess had read my books or had some of the documents at HBO. They didn’t like the ‘Dunk and Egg’ idea because they were familiar with the novellas — somebody there had read them — but it was too soft, but they did respond to the ‘Dance of the Dragons’ idea.”

“It surprised me, I’ll admit that. I’d never heard of that before. I thought we’d be going ahead with one, with one development, with the one that I pitched to them, the ‘Dance of the Dragons’ idea. I met with all four of the writers. They came to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I lived, and I had meetings with them, discussed their idea, did workshops, tried to fill them in on any questions and all that.”

After the recent news about ‘Tales of Dunk and Egg’ getting a writer, we can hope for another spinoff show to become a reality very soon. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and talk to us in the comments below!