George R.R. Martin is hitting the press trail! And before you ask, no, it’s not to promote the upcoming release of The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in his Song of Ice and Fire series; we still have no idea when that’s coming out. Instead, he’s talking up House of the Dragon, the new Game of Thrones prequel series premiering this summer!
But of course, The Winds of Winter is going to come up. “I get [that] Winds of Winter, the sixth book is late,” Martin said on an episode Coupledom, a podcast hosted by Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina. “I can get a hundred good comments, but there’s still gonna be a few fans out there who are gonna remind me of it on my blog or whatever. I say, ‘Happy Thanksgiving!’ And they say, ‘Never mind Thanksgiving, where’s the book?!’”
I love the fans, although I do think Twitter and the internet and social media has brought out a viciousness I never saw in the old days. The love and hate are very close, particularly with comic books or any established franchises.
Anyone who spends more than five minutes on Twitter, Reddit, or anywhere else fans gather online knows what Martin is talking about. Yes, there are plenty of fans who keeps things civil, but there are others who say the weirdest, most personal, most over-the-line stuff about pretty much any topic you can think of, including Martin’s tortoise-esque writing speed. I want to read Winds as much as anyone, but I don’t think screeching at Martin to get it done is going to help; he’s more aware than anyone how long it’s been.
House of the Dragon showrunners want the show to be a “worthy” successor to Game of Thrones
Martin appeared on the podcast alongside Ryan Condal, one of two showrunners on House of the Dragon (the other is Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik). According to Condal, the goal with the new show is to “to create a fitting successor show that keeps [fans] happy.” Of course, we all know that can be a tricky business.
This all comes from an exclusive clip from the Coupledom episode obtained by SyFy Wire, so there may be more tidbits in there once the full episode comes out. As for House of the Dragon, it premieres on HBO and HBO Max on August 21.
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