George R.R. Martin on 'Game of Thrones' future: Cloudy, with a chance of movies
George R.R.Martin, creator of "A Song of Ice and Fire," says he has no clue how much longer "Game of Thrones" will last. Credit: (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)
How many more seasons of "Game of Thrones"?
It is now the annual rite-of-early-spring question — alongside ones like "Did the groundhog see his shadow," or "Why do we need Daylight Savings anyway?" or "when will it (ever) get warm?"
How many more seasons? George R.R. Martin, who is arguably someone with a better handle on the answer than anyone, says the official answer is: No one knows.
He doesn't even know.
In Martin's blog, titled "Not a Blog," he addressed this Thursday evening, writing:
"This discussion is nothing new, of course. I get asked similar questions every time I make a public appearance, do an interview, or walk a red carpet. My usual answer is a variant on, "I don't know how many seasons the show will run." I don't know. No one knows."
And further, this:
"I also know that HBO wants the series to run longer than that. I have known that since the very beginning... well, actually, since the day after the second episode of season one aired, when I had lunch with one of HBO's top execs, who told me, "We want this to run ten years." I allowed that ten years sounded fine to me. I continue to hear similar sentiments from HBO every time I have meeting with them, be it in LA or New York. And it should be pointed out that neither ten seasons or even seven is locked in. Right now, GAME OF THRONES is guaranteed only six seasons."
A movie? Yup, Martin — the genius who continues to write "A Song of Ice and Fire," upon which "Thrones" is adapted — addressed that annual question too:
"I see that this new crop of stories also raises, once again, the notion of concluding the series with one or more feature films. And in some of these stories, once again, this idea is wrongly attributed to me. Let me state, yet again, that while I love this idea, it did NOT originate with me. It was a notion suggested to me, which I have enthusiastically endorsed... but since I was the first person to raise the possibility in public, somehow I am being seen as its father. Sure, I love the idea. Why not? What fantasist would not love the idea of going out with an epic hundred million feature film? And the recent success of the IMAX experience shows that the audience is there for such a movie. If we build it, they will come. But will we build it? I have no bloody idea."
