George R.R. Martin has some great ideas for a Game of Thrones spin-off
Last week we learned that Game of Thrones could be approaching the finish line sooner rather than later, but just because the story which showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are telling is coming to a close doesn't mean there aren't still stories that need telling.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, creator George R.R. Martin noted that there are plenty of opportunities for Game of Thrones spin-offs, if HBO were so inclined. “There is certainly no lack of material. Every episode of The Naked City – one of the television shows I watched as a kid – ended with a voice-over: ‘There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.’ There are eight million stories in Westeros as well … and even more in Essos and the lands beyond. A whole world full of stories, waiting to be told… if indeed HBO is interested."
"The most natural follow-up would be an adaptation of my Dunk & Egg stories", Martin continued. "Each of the novellas could easily be done as a two-hour stand-alone movie for television; that would probably be the ideal way to do them, rather than as an ongoing weekly series.”
The Dunk & Egg story Martin is referring to is a series of novellas that is set 90 years before the Game of Thrones events, and is just one example of the many directions the series could go in future. Although Martin confirmed that no meaningful discussions have taken place as yet, Game of Thrones' popularity means that a spin-off discussion is likely to resurface at some point.
Season 6 of Game of Thrones premieres on HBO on April 24, 2016 in the US, and airs on Sky Atlantic the next day in the UK.
Images: HBO
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Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.