I don’t read the Game of Thrones books, probably never will. But I get a kick out of those who curse George R.R. Martin’s name for doing pretty much everything other than finishing work on The Winds of Winter. With Martin involved in the upcoming prequel series House of the Dragon, one might think it another reason for the novel’s delay, but the author assures readers that he knows what his priorities should be.
Taking to his blog to talk about all things Game of Thrones, Martin confirmed he’d be involved on the creative side of House of the Dragon, but promised he wouldn’t let it get in the way of finishing his book…
“I expect to be involved in all of this to some extent… and, who knows, if things work out, I may even be able to script a few episodes, as I did for the first four seasons of ‘Game of Thrones,’” wrote Martin.
“But… let me make this perfectly clear… I am not taking on any scripts until I have finished and delivered ‘Winds of Winter.’ Winter is still coming, and ‘Winds’ remains my priority, as much as I’d love to write an episode of ‘House.’”
Should he be taken at face value, folks?
In a busy week of ‘Thrones’ news, we saw the prequel series starring Naomi Watts get canned, mere hours before House of the Dragon got picked up by HBO. Martin doesn’t have an explanation for one’s cancellation but says it has nothing to do with the other moving forward…
“I do not know why HBO decided not to go to series on this one, but I do not think it had to do with ‘House of the Dragon, This was never an either/or situation. If television has room enough for multiple ‘CSIs’ and ‘Chicago’ shows… well, Westeros and Essos are a lot bigger, with thousands of years of history and enough tales and legends and characters for a dozen shows.”
If Martin writes for TV before finishing his book, will that be the final straw for his fans? Probably not, but I’m curious to see how this plays out.
