HBO have signed on writers to get to work on a total of four possible “game of thrones” prequel spinoff series. Specific details of the shows are being kept under wraps, but David Benioff and DB Weiss, the writing duo who oversee the current “Game of Thrones” series (which is set to end next year following its eighth season), and George RR Martin, the author who wrote (and has yet to finish) the “A Song of Ice and Fire” books, will be involved with each of the four projects as executive producers.
The spinoffs will all be set in time periods before the “Game of Thrones” story and help to build up the “A Song of Ice and Fire” universe – it could be the Television equivalent of the MCU.
Writers set for each spinoff
Martin will be co-writing two of the “Game of Thrones” spinoffs, while the other two will be left to their own devices to create a show all by themselves – it’s clear which of the writers HBO trusts more. One of the spinoffs will be written by Max Borenstein, the Yale-educated screenwriter behind “Godzilla” and “Kong: Skull Island.” Another will be written by Brian Helgeland, the brilliant writer behind “LA Confidential,” “Mystic River,” and “Legend.”
The two less trustworthy writers who will be co-writing their “Game of Thrones” spinoff with George RR Martin are Jane Goldman, the accomplished British screenwriter behind “Kick-Ass,” “Kingsman,” “The Woman in Black,” and more – oh, and she’s also married to Jonathan Ross – and Carly Wray, who’s written for some of the best modern TV dramas like “Mad Men” and “The Leftovers” (if you’ve never seen “The Leftovers,” stop reading this right now and go and watch it).
Interesting that the two Martin is supervising are women, while the two left to work alone are men. Nothing to accuse him of necessarily, but it is interesting.
Benioff and Weiss won’t be involved in the writing
At present, Benioff and Weiss are finishing up production on the seventh season of “Game of Thrones,” which is set to premiere in the coming months, and are already in pre-production and writing the eighth and final season that will follow shortly afterwards.
They will not be involved in the writing process of any of these spinoffs, as they’ve said in the past. Instead, they’ll just be involved in an executive producer role – in other words, they’ll take a sizeable chunk of the profits just for having their name in the credits.
HBO hasn’t revealed a shoot date or an airdate for any of these spinoffs – in fact, some of them might just remain pilots and never be ordered to series and therefore never see the light of day, despite the expenses of making such a pilot set in the dragon-infested world of Westeros – but you can pretty much assume that at least one “Game of Thrones”-based show will make it to the air when the big daddy leaves our screens next year, if not all four. Season 7 of said big daddy will premiere on 16 July at 9pm. Don’t miss it!