George R.R. Martin Reveals A Huge Update For New ‘Game Of Thrones’ Spinoff

Lord Corlys Velaryon George R.R. Martin may not have published any new novels in his epic fantasy series A Song Of Ice And Fire in . . . checks notes . . . twelve and a half years, but he publishes blog posts regularly. When they’re not about football, they can be quite interesting. I enjoyed his commentary on the writer’s strike a great deal, for instance.

Of course, mainly I read Martin’s blog to get updates on The Winds Of Winter (meager reward there) and the various Game Of Thrones spinoffs in the works at HBO. The first of those was House Of The Dragon, but a number of others are in various stages of development, including A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, the one other spinoff and prequel that’s been 100% greenlit by the powers that be.

The rest, including a Jon Snow series that actor Kit Harrington is working on, remain question marks. One of the many potential Thrones successors that’s been discussed is Nine Voyages, another prequel set during roughly the same time as House of the Dragon. The swashbuckling adventure show would follow Corlys Velaryon (played by Steve Toussaint in HotD ) as he sailed on his many voyages.

Martin has a pretty significant update on his blog about the show. After giving Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai a great deal of (much deserved) praise, Martin talks about the animated Thrones spinoffs in the works at HBO. Two of the four original animated series have been shelved, Martin reveals, but two continue development.

None have been greenlit. Meanwhile, Nine Voyages is being transformed from a live action series to an animated series. Martin says this is “A move I fully support” and I agree with him entirely. I am a constant advocate for more animated adult fantasy series. For one thing, you can do more for less.

Want magic? Want dragons? Want epic castles and even more epic battles? All of this is easier to do with animation. Years and years ago I argued that Netflix should make The Witcher an animated series, and now they’re finally making an animated Witcher movie with the video game version of the character (including voice actor Doug Cockle reprising his role) set for late 2024.

This looks great! More like this—and like Blue Eye Samurai and Arcane and The Legend Of Vox Machina please! Martin explains some of the reasoning behind changing the Sea Snake’s story to animation: Martin, of course, doesn’t know if any of these projects will ever see the light of day. But he offers us this promise of sorts: “But if it does happen, with one or two or all three shows, I hope we can make them as good as gorgeous and gripping as BLUE EYE SAMURAI.

We will for damn sure try.” I would be beyond thrilled with a Game Of Thrones animated series as high quality and compelling as Blue Eye Samurai. Maybe not as thrilled as actually holding Winds Of Winter in my hand someday, but beggars can’t be choosers..