George R.R. Martin offers Game of Thrones prequel title idea
He also shares a little about other successor shows. What about his long-awaited Winds of Winter book? Yeah, he mentions that too.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
The origin of the White Walkers may be revealed in the new show.
Game of Thrones fans celebrated last week when HBO revealed it's ordered a pilot of one of the five possible successor shows to the fantasy hit. But the premium cable network was about as generous with the details as Cersei is about sharing her wine.
All HBO revealed was a fairly generic statement that hinted at details without really sharing any. The only real tidbit was that the show promised to explore the true origin of the creepy White Walkers.
But author George R.R. Martin, whose Song of Ice and Fire book series inspired the series, spilled a little more news on his website on Monday.
Martin reminded fans that HBO has only ordered a pilot episode, meaning the show might not come to series. He also reminded them that since it's set 10,000 years before Game of Thrones , none of fans' current favorite characters will appear. And he has high praise for Jane Goldman, who will serve as showrunner for the new series.
There's no director, cast, location or title yet, Martin says -- but he does have a title idea.
"My vote would be The Long Night, which says it all, but I'd be surprised if that's where we end up," he wrote. "More likely HBO will want to work the phrase "game of thrones" in there somewhere. We'll know sooner or later)."
In Martin's writings, The Long Night was a winter night that lasted for an entire generation, freezing and starving thousands of people. It was then that the undead White Walkers first came to Westeros, seeking to create an endless winter and kill or reanimate everyone and everything they touch.
As for the other successor shows, Martin reveals that one of them "has been shelved," but that the other three remain alive.
"Three more Game of Thrones prequels, set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, remain in active development," Martin said. "Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come."
And Martin knows what question is always on fans' minds: When is the long-awaited sixth book in the series, Winds of Winter, coming out? Sheesh, Westerosi, he's working on it.
"And yes, before you ask, work on Winds of Winter continues, and remains my top priority," he writes. "It is ridiculous to think otherwise. If I wasn't busy with Winds, don't you think I'd be scripting one or more of these pilots myself?"
CNET Magazine: Check out a sample of the stories in CNET's newsstand edition.
Tech Enabled: CNET chronicles tech's role in providing new kinds of accessibility.