Author George R.R. Martin gave a significant update on the Game of Thrones prequels Wednesday, including revealing their updated titles and showrunners.
In addition, Martin discussed his progress on his long-awaited novel The Winds of Winter and gave his reaction to early cuts of the upcoming Thrones prequel House of the Dragon.
The Nymeria series in development — about a legendary Dornish warrior-queen — is still titled Ten Thousand Ships and has tapped Amanda Segel (Person of Interest) as showrunner. Martin says she has delivered a couple of drafts.
The Corlys Velaryon series in development, about a famed explorer and trader, has had a title change from Nine Voyages to The Sea Snake (“Since we wanted to avoid having two shows with numbers in the title,” Martin says). Bruno Heller (Rome) is the showrunner of that one.
The Dunk and Egg series in development — based on Martin’s novellas about a wandering knight and a young Aegon V Targaryen — is being tackled by Steve Conrad (Patriot). “He’s determined to do a faithful adaptation of the stories, which is exactly what I want; these characters and stories are very precious to me,” Martin says. “The first season will be an adaptation of the first novella, The Hedge Knight.” The project’s title is still uncertain, but it will probably be The Hedge Knight or A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Martin wants to write more of these novellas to help the series (assuming it gets greenlit).
There’s also an animated series that Martin confirms is set in the China-inspired land of Yi Ti. The author notes it has the working title The Golden Empire, but can’t yet reveal the writer.
The live-action titles will be on HBO, Martin notes, while the animated series is for HBO Max.
On the subject of House of the Dragon, which is coming this year, the author and executive producer says, “What I have seen, I have loved. I am eager to see more.”
Martin notes he is involved “a lot” with the prequels — “deeply, heavily involved in every one of the new shows.”
Which is one reason, he admits, that he made less progress on The Winds of Winter last year. “I made a lot of progress on Winds in 2020, and less in 2021…but ‘less’ is not ‘none’…the world of A Song of Ice & Fire, is my number one priority, and will remain so until the story is told…let me say once again, yes, I am still working on Winds of Winter.”