Apparently, George R.R. Martin reads entertainment news. At least he conveyed as such in a recent blog post in which he tries to clarify a few details on what has been going on with the alleged "prequel" or "spinoff" shows that have been talked about over the last few months. It should be noted that Martin doesn't particularly care for either term and prefers the series' in question to be referred to as "successor shows."
This is in large part because the shows that are currently being written (five of them) do not feature any major characters that have appeared to date. He says:
"None of these new shows will be 'spinning off' from GOT in the traditional sense. We are not talking Joey or AfterMASH or even Frazier or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another. So all of you who were hoping for the further adventures of Hot Pie are doomed to disappointment. Every one of the concepts under discussion is a prequel, rather than a sequel. Some may not even be set on Westeros. Rather than 'spinoff' or 'prequel,' however, I prefer the term 'successor show.' That's what I've been calling them."
Martin also goes on to talk about what won't be in any of the shows, which include both Dunk & Egg and Robert's Rebellion. Dunk & Egg is an on-going series of novellas written by Martin that revolve around the hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg and takes place 89 years before the events of the novels.
Robert's Rebellion has been a highly requested storyline for a potential "successor show," which is all about the overthrow of House Targaryen by Eddard Stark, Jon Arryn, and Robert Baratheon. The critical link to the story line is Ned Stark's sister, Lyanna being "captured" by Rhaegar Targaryen and eventually giving birth to Jon Snow.
Martin's reasoning behind not doing Robert's Rebellion is that by the time he's done writing The Song of Ice & Fire series, fans "will know every important thing that happened in Robert's Rebellion."
"There would be no surprises or revelations left in such a show, just the acting out of conflicts whose resolutions you already know," he continued.
Game of Thrones Season 7 premieres on HBO on July 16th, 2017.
Source: [George R.R. Martin via Gamespot]
