Another day, another announcement from George R.R. Martin. The popular author of the A Song Of Ice and Fire series has announced a new project, marking yet another venture outside of the highly-anticipated The Winds of Winter, a book Martin has been writing since at least 2010. (If that sentence read a little salty, it’s because I’m a little salty.) Next up, though, George R.R. Martin will have a new HBO project in the works.
George R.R. Martin confirmed the news himself via his popular blog, “Not A Blog.” The wordsmith mentioned the project is currently in development and is a “true story” based on a book called Roadmarks, which is not one of his own titles. Instead, the story was originally written by Roger Zelazny.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as if either HBO or George R.R. Martin were ready to announce Roadmarks was in the works, but the news leaked (via AV Club), also listing that Star Trek: Discovery’s Kalinda Vazquez is involved with the project. Here’s what Martin had to say on the matter:
We had not intended to announce anything yet, to be sure. Development is a long and uncertain process. Thousands of shows are pitched, hundreds of pilots are written, dozens of pilots are filmed, but only a very few of them ever get greenlit to series. There is a reason that Hollywood insiders call it ‘development hell.’ And what’s the point of announcing projects that might never make it to air? That’s why HBO — like most other networks and streamers — prefers to keep these things quiet.
Basically, at this point it’s early days and there’s no guarantee that Roadmarks will even become a series. But it is certainly another project that Martin has focused his sights on.
Earlier in February, George R.R. Martin did release a “hopeful” update about the impending novel, mentioning he wrote “hundreds and hundreds” of pages of WOW in 2020, marking a period of huge productivity on the book. He also mentioned that is more pages in than he had been able to get in years. So, work is still being done, just maybe not as quickly as the fanbase would hope.
Look, I recognize that George R.R. Martin doesn’t owe me jack and may have other interests outside of the Lannisters, Starks and more. I also recognize that The Winds of Winter and its expected follow-up are going to be behemoth titles, titles that take time. But it’s also been 10 years since the last book came out and at this point, Game of Thrones has even ended as a TV series. Given the reception of that ending, I think a lot of fans are still eagerly awaiting what the books could bring.
One day. Maybe. I’m certainly guessing we’ll get the Game of Thrones prequel series (maybe even multiple) first.
