George R. R. Martin Inks Massive Overall Deal With HBO

George R. R. Martin has inked a new deal with HBO that will allow the author to develop more series for the network and its HBO Max streaming service, including multiple Game of Thrones spinoffs.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Martin’s new pact with HBO spans five years and is worth mid-eight figures. The news comes just weeks after HBO revealed that at least five Game of Thrones spinoffs and prequels are in the works, and ensures Martin’s continued input on the in-development series.

Of the many Game of Thrones-related series in the works, only one has so far been green-lit and will reportedly go into production next month: House of the Dragon, based on Martin’s 2019 novel Fire & Blood, takes place 300 years before the events of the acclaimed HBO series and focuses on the House Targaryen; before the series even films, a spinoff called The Sea Snake is already among the potential new GoT projects, the Hollywood Reporter writes.

Non-GoT projects that Martin has in development include series adapted from Nnedi Okorafor’s post-apocalyptic novel Who Fears Death and Roger Zelazny’s fantasy novel Roadmarks, with Martin set to executive produce both shows.

While Martin’s HBO partnership is good news for fans of Game of Thrones, readers of the author’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series will likely fret about how the overall deal will impact the saga’s perpetually delayed sixth installment The Winds of Winter; in February, Martin said that while 2020 was a productive year for the novel, “I still have hundreds of more pages to write to bring the novel to a satisfactory conclusion. That’s what 2021 is for, I hope,” he wrote to fans.