Martin details Game of Thrones prequels

The proposed spin-offs from HBO’s Game of Thrones (GoT) will not feature any characters from the fantasy adventure drama and all will be prequels, author George RR Martin has revealed.

The upcoming prequels to Game of Thrones will not feature any of its characters

Martin said that five new pilot scripts were in the works, up from the previously reported four, and gave further details on what subjects they would cover.

“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 [sic] or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another,” he wrote in his blog.

“Every one of the concepts under discussion is a prequel, rather than a sequel. Some may not even be set on Westeros. Rather than ‘spin-off’ or ‘prequel,’ however, I prefer the term ‘successor show.’ That’s what I’ve been calling them.”

Martin added that a fifth, unnamed writer had been added to work on the projects, joining Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland and Carly Wray.

He also said the projects were not based on his Dunk & Egg novellas, adding that he didn’t want “to repeat what happened with Game of Thrones itself, where the show gets ahead of the books.”

US premium cablenet HBO confirmed in August that the eighth season of Game of Thrones would be its last.