‘Game of Thrones’ Writer Martin Says HBO Max Shakeups Have Affected Future Spin-Off Plans
The past year was a rough one for HBO Max and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, but one of the few bright spots for the service was “House of the Dragon.” The series broke viewership records on HBO Max, and earned two Golden Globe nominations.
The series is a prequel to “Game of Thrones,” and both series are based on books written by George R.R. Martin. The author is a frequent collaborator with HBO on adaptations of his work, and wrote a blog post on Dec. 28 offering fans an update on future projects set in the world of Westeros.
“All the changes at HBO Max have impacted us, certainly,” Martin wrote.
Martin noted that he is still in development on several projects with HBO, none of which have been greenlit by the company yet. Some of those projects have been put on hold by HBO, though Martin tried to strike an optimistic tone about the potential series the company has now put on the shelf.
“I would not agree that they are dead,” he blogged. “You can take something off the shelf as easily as you can put it on the shelf.”
It’s not immediately clear which, or how many series Martin had in development that have now been shelved. A spinoff centering on former Night’s Watch commander Jon Snow is the most-publicized series in development, but it’s uncertain if that show is one of the shelved projects or not.
Regardless, Martin’s optimism may be sadly misplaced. Other recent high-profile “shelvings” at HBO Max have not proved to be reversible, such as the “Batgirl” fiasco and the cancelation of “Westworld.” WBD CEO David Zaslav is still in the midst of accounting for more than $5 billion in costs from the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery in early 2022.
That means there likely isn’t enough money to go around for all the series Martin would like to develop with HBO. Shows set in Westeros may be big drivers of views on HBO Max, but they also require large ensemble casts, location shoots with elaborate sets, and visual effects galore. All of that translates into high production costs, and that’s the opposite direction from where WBD wants to go right now.
There is an outside chance that Martin’s shelved projects do get a second look once HBO Max merges with discovery+ in summer of 2023. After all, “Game of Thrones” is a powerful and successful brand for WBD. But given that the company has been willing to basically hit the reset button on its DC universe, brand recognition likely won’t be enough to save discarded ideas from the scrap heap.
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