Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin has hinted that in addition to the current HBO show, his books may be headed for the big screen.
Of course, G.R.R.M. is notorious for being the master of sadistic teases. He’s been feeding us scraps of tantalizing information about the sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series for years, after all.
At the New York premiere of Game of Thrones Season 4, Martin told The Hollywood Reporter, “It all depends on how long the main series runs. Do we run for seven years? Do we run for eight? Do we run for 10? The books get bigger and bigger [in scope]. It might need a feature to tie things up, something with a feature budget, like $100 million for two hours. Those dragons get real big, you know.”
Another potential movie idea namechecked by Martin is an adaptation of Tales of Dunk and Egg, a series of three prequel novellas. These focus on a much smaller central cast than the sprawling royal dynasties of the main books, and take place about 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Martin added that he also has “about a dozen more” prequel ideas where that came from.
At this point, we’re assuming that Martin’s agent began to see Hobbit trilogy-style dollar signs. Even if Martin never turns out that mythical sixth ASOIAF novel, they still have enough material to keep a potential movie franchise going for years. Considering the fact that J.K. Rowling’s upcoming Fantastic Beasts movie has virtually no direct connection to the Harry Potter series, Martin’s prequel novellas shouldn’t be too hard a sell.
Oddly enough, all this talk of possible movie ideas is inspiring a fair amount of grumbling from ASOIAF fans.
At 65, G.R.R.M. is not getting any younger, and many fans are paranoid that the book series may never be finished at all. Martin has been notoriously slow to indicate any kind of release schedule for further books, and some of his readers are concerned that concentrating on the TV series and potential movie spinoffs will just distract his attention from the most important task of all: finishing the books.
To these doubters, we recommend a little light reading from another famous fantasy author: Neil Gaiman. As he infamously wrote in a blog post back in 2009, “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.” Basically, if Martin wants to spend his retirement years working on a Hollywood adaptation of his books, so be it.
The ASOIAF series is not a corporation, and you’re not a shareholder. Sure, it would be a pity if all this movie and TV business meant that the series wound up as an unfinished masterpiece, but that’s Martin’s prerogative as the author. In the meantime, you may get to see some big-budget CGI dragons to dull the pain.
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