news culture “I’m back to work”: George RR Martin is preparing Season 2 of House of the Dragon, but not only!
Whether for House of the Dragon, the novel The Winds of Winter or the many spin offs planned in the Game of Thrones universe, George RR Martin is not about to be bored. Back from vacation, he wanted to reassure his fans with a little preview of what is happening, but also what will not happen…
The Winds of Winter, House of the Dragon… George RR Martin has his work cut out for him
Don’t worry, George RR Martin is back from vacation. He made a point of pointing this out through a post on his blog in which he tells us about his last encounters (notably the one with Neil Gaiman which has caused a lot of ink to flow) and his recent crushes. A little dive into the restful life of the world-famous author, punctuated by a few touches of irony concerning his next big project: The Winds of Winter. For those who haven’t followed, this is the sixth novel in the Game of Thrones universe, and therefore the sequel toA Dance with Dragons. At the end of the latter, Jon Snow has just been assassinated and the Battle of Meereen is about to begin. Being written since at least 2011, this new book is highly anticipated. But now, it is still not finished and the many other projects Martin is working on do not help him move forward.
As the author recalled, season 2 of House of the Dragon is also on fire. If he does not take care of the writing of the series, he supervises all the same all asexecutive producer, and that’s no small feat for a series of this magnitude. If its means of distribution with us is still uncertain, we already know that filming is scheduled for spring 2023 at the latest. And it’s not over ! As you may know, there are several more spin offs planned with HBO. “Some move faster than others” admitted Martin, without specifying which ones. A priori, we rather opt for the spin off dedicated to Jon Snow, because it is the one that has been the most talked about lately. But he could just as well talk about the one on the Sea Serpent, Princess Nymeria, the journeys of Ser Duncan the Great and his young squire Aegon Targaryen or even the possible animated series that are the subject of insistent rumors.
Spin offs canceled because of HBO?
Nevertheless, one should not trust everything that has been said before. If according to Martin several projects are being prepared, others have also been put aside. In question, the recent changes on the side of HBO. Perhaps you have followed the adventures experienced by HBO Max: the streaming service of the American channel was indeed supposed to expand and in particular to arrive here. But since the merger of the groups Warner Bros and Discovery, the strategy has changed. The new bosses, not really believing in streaming, have decided to put an end to the HBO Max platform to merge it with Discovery+. If this raises big questions for us, this redesign has also had serious consequences on current productions. Thereby, the film Batgirl has notably been cancelled. And the various projects in the Game of Thrones universe also seem to have been impacted.
We recognize that our two current products have shortcomings. HBO Max has a competitive feature set but has had performance and customer issues. Discovery+ has best-in-class performance and consumer ratings, but more limited features. Our combined service will strive to offer the best of both: cutting-edge functionality and world-class performance.
Release from Warner Bros. Discovery
According to Martin, some of them have been suspended. He nevertheless refuses to speak of pure and simple cancellation. For him, it’s easy to put a project aside, but it’s just as easy to bring an abandoned idea out of the closet. If we can feel between the lines a touch of bitterness concerning the jeopardy of certain projects, the author does not lose hope, and neither do we. And whatever happens, we are far from done with the fantastic world of Westeros, whether in print or on screen.
