George R.R. Martin does not want HBO’s Game of Thrones to end. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter from the final season’s NYC premiere, Martin said he would have wanted the show to run longer. But while the main show is ending, there might be a prequel series someday, and of course he continues to write new books.
“I don’t think it should be the final season. But here we are,” Martin said. “It seems to me we just started last week. Has it been longer than that? The time has passed by in a blur. But it’s exciting. I know it’s an end, but it’s not much of an end for me. I’m still deep in writing the books. We saw five other sequel shows in development. I think I’m going to be hanging around Westeros while everyone else has left. (Laughs.)”
Martin said in 2018 that Game of Thrones could have run for as many as 13 seasons, thanks in part to the breadth of detail and history from the book series. Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff originally only wanted seven seasons, so Martin and company were successful at convincing them to do at least one more than they set out to.
The “five other sequel shows” is a reference to the Game of Thrones spin-offs that HBO has in various stages of development. The first of these hasn’t started shooting yet, though the producers are “getting very close” to beginning, Martin said. HBO has committed to filming a pilot episode for the show, but there is no guarantee it’ll get picked up to series. Whatever the case, Martin said he’s excited about the cast and crew for what he described as a “very different” show than the mainline Game of Thrones program.
“They have a great director and an amazing cast. I’ve been following along closely. I have my fingers crossed,” he said. “It’s different. It’s definitely very different. It’s set thousands of years in the past. You’re looking at a whole different era of Westeros. No dragons, no Iron Throne, no King’s Landing. It will be interesting to see what the fans make of that.”
Jessica Jones director SJ Clarkson is directing the show, which will star Naomi Watts. X-Men: First Class’ Jane Goldman will serve as showrunner.
Game of Thrones Season 8 premieres April 14 on HBO. For more, you can find out why actor John Bradley thinks Game of Thrones has changed TV forever.