14 DAY TRIAL // Rumors that HBO might bring its biggest hit ever to the big screen, the “Game of Thrones” series, based on the “Song of Ice and Fire” series of novels by George R.R. Martin, have been around for a long time. However, until now, they were just that: rumors.
That doesn’t mean that the plan didn’t exist or was aborted, Martin says in a new interview cited by Collider. In fact, he can personally confirm that a movie is coming - but he won’t be involved in it. And there’s a catch, too.
“Game of Thrones” movie is in the making
“There will be a movie but I will not be involved,” Martin says. “I have too much to do. That is something HBO and D.B. [Weiss] and David [Benioff] are dealing with. I have two more books to finish and I still have so much to do.”
Martin is still to complete his series of novels that inspired the hit TV show and season 5, which aired this year, caught up with the story. This means that season 6 will spoil things for Martin, even if the show takes characters into a different direction than the one he will give them, because the ending will be the same.
The author is (in)famous for writing slow, so he imagined this would happen. He gave Weiss and Benioff, the series creators, the ending to the story a while back, allowing them to plan in advance.
In other words, it’s not really that surprising that Martin won’t be involved in the film. As for what it might be about, he says there’s a catch: contrary to reports that HBO will save the closure for “Game of Thrones” not for the series finale but for a movie, the plan is to actually come out with a prequel of sorts.
Cue to Martin again: “They are looking at dipping back in time during certain periods of the series, which could be examined as a one off plot. That means that some of the big characters who fans have seen die on screen could be resurrected.”
On the bright side, this means Sean Bean will probably bring back his beloved Ned Stark character.
A really tricky decision
It makes sense for HBO to not want to let go of its biggest hit to date until all options are explored. A tie-in movie would help it monetize the GoT phenomenon even more, but cheating fans of the TV show of the finale and forcing them to buy tickets for the film would be too risky a move.
At the same time, Weiss and Benioff are pulling for the series to end on TV, where it started, citing artistic integrity for it. Martin is siding with HBO, because a movie would buy him more time to write his books.
Whichever way you look at it, this is a tricky decision for the network, but if they manage to pull off bringing GoT to the big screen in a way that pleases fans, they will count it as their biggest achievement yet. Previous series that made the transition successfully include “SATC” and “Entourage.”