“He has also been GOT’s ‘Keeper of the Lore,’ the guy who knew the canon better than anyone (except me, though sometimes I am not even sure about that),” Mr. Martin wrote.
No details have been released about the content of the new “Game of Thrones” shows, which would be set before the current series and thus include none of the current cast. Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss have said they will not be involved in any of the series, though they, like Mr. Martin, will be executive producers.
HBO hasn’t committed to airing any “Thrones” successor but it’s hard to believe that the network wouldn’t extend such a lucrative global phenomenon, especially now that the prequel pool includes a “Thrones” veteran like Mr. Cogman as well as Mr. Martin, the Grand Maester of them all.
The final season of “Game of Thrones” will air in 2018 or perhaps even 2019, and any future series would arrive at least a year after that, Casey Bloys, HBO’s programming president, has said. On Thursday HBO confirmed Mr. Cogman’s project but offered no further information about the prequels, other than to reiterate that any series wouldn’t be produced until after “Game of Thrones” is over.
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“You should not expect to see all five shows, though, at least not immediately,” Mr. Martin wrote on his blog. “But we could possibly see two or even three make it to the pilot stage, with one series emerging on air in 2019 or 2020… and the others maybe later, if they come out as well as we all hope.”
The other writers who have been tapped to develop concepts are: Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland and Carly Wray. None of them have written for “Thrones,” though Mr. Martin is also working on scripts with Ms. Goldman and Ms. Wray, as well as cocreating Mr. Cogman’s adaptation.
In addition to working on three of the five prequel concepts, the author is also helping to develop Nnedi Okorafor’s Afrofuturist novel “Who Fears Death” into a series for HBO.
In other words, what is good news for Mr. Martin’s TV fans might be less so for his readers, who have been waiting for the next “Ice and Fire” novel since 2011. In July, Mr. Martin wrote “I am still months away” from completing that book, “The Winds of Winter.”
“How many? Good question,” he wrote. “I still have good days and bad days, and that’s all I care to say.”
