George R.R. Martin Has Ideas For a GAME OF THRONES Spin-Off
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the showrunners of Game of Thrones, are so busy producing their show that they haven't thought about a potential prequel or spin-off series, and HBO, content with having one of the most buzzed-about shows on television right now, is fine with sitting back and waiting to see if they'd be interested in doing something like that after this show come to an end. (Which could be sooner than anyone thought.) But eventually, you have to assume that the network will want to at least have some conversations about telling more stories set in this fantasy world, and EW spoke with author George R.R. Martin about an idea for a spin-off.
“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. 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 Hedge Knight and its sequels are lighter [in tone] than A Song of Ice and Fire, more in the realm of action/adventure.”
I just finished reading all of the Song of Ice and Fire books, but haven't started the Dunk & Egg saga yet. For those who don't know, the three published novellas follow "Dunk," a hedge knight named Ser Duncan the Tall who eventually becomes the commander of the Kingsguard, and "Egg," Aegon V Targaryen, who serves as his squire before eventually becoming the king. These stories are set about 90 years before the events of A Song of Ice and Fire. Considering what Warner Bros. is doing with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — another story set years before the action of a major franchise — it's not hard to see how HBO could take a page out of that playbook with Dunk & Egg...especially since they're apparently hurting for another smash hit show these days. (Look at the success of Better Call Saul, too.) Would this spin-off be enough to fill the massive hole that will be left when Game of Thrones is finished?