Four, yes four, potential 'Game of Thrones' spin-off shows are in development

It always seemed inevitable that Game of Thrones would be given the spin-off treatment when the show reaches its presumably bloody climax next year, but we didn’t expect to hear this early that the wheels are already in motion.

Ahead the season seven premiere in a few months time, IGN report that HBO has signed off four writers to begin work on four potential prequel series, each exploring a different time period in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire universe. 

The author is co-writing two of the projects, one with Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kick-Ass) and the other with Carly Wray (The Leftovers, Mad Men). Max Borenstein (Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island) and Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale, Legend, Robin Hood) have also been recruited to write respective screenplays. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are notably absent from writing duties (they’re both quite busy, to be fair) but the pair will reportedly serve as executive producers on all of them. 

It goes without saying that HBO is unlikely to green-light every series, but if a script does get picked up it will soften the blow when the credits roll on GoT for the last time. And let’s be honest: with talent like that on board it’s highly likely that at least one of them will fly with the people at the top. The network hasn’t set a timetable or targeted release dates, so the writers have freedom to properly develop whatever they have in mind. 

There are already plenty of strong contenders for which projects the writers might pitch. George R. R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas take place 90 years before the events of GoT, and Robert's Rebellion – which documents the rebellion against the Targaryen dynasty and the beginning of Robert Baratheon's reign as King – is another obvious choice. The grizzly origin story of the Night’s King (it’s hard to believe that in the books he was once the the 13th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch) would also be worth revisiting. 

And that’s just prequels. Personally, I’d like an entire spin-off series dedicated to showing us exactly what happened to Gendry and his little boat.