‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff ‘The Hedge Knight’ Writers Room Pauses as George R.R. Martin Offers ‘Unequivocal Support’ of WGA

Like many projects in early production during the writers strike, the upcoming “Game of Thrones” spinoff “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight” has paused its writers room, author George R.R. Martin revealed in a new blog post Monday.

The prolific author, most known for his ongoing “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels that inspired HBO’s hit shows “Game of Thrones” and laid the groundwork for its prequel “House of the Dragon,” also made announcements about his other TV shows, like AMC’s “Dark Winds” Season 2.

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“I am not in LA, so I cannot walk a picket line as I did in 1988, but I want to go on the record with my full and complete and unequivocal support of my Guild,” he wrote. “How long will the strike last? No idea. Maybe the AMPTP members will come to their senses tomorrow and offer some meaningful concessions, and the whole thing can be wrapped up next week. I would not bet the ranch on that, however. I have been through several of these since I first started writing for television and film in 1986. The 1988 strike, the first I was a part of, lasted 22 weeks, the longest in Hollywood history. The 2007-2008 strike, the most recent, went for 100 days. This one may go longer. The issues are more important, and I have never seen the Guild so united as it is now.”

HBO announced a series order of “The Hedge Knight” last month during Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max investor presentation. It’s based on Martin’s “Dunk and Egg” novellas, which follow the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk) and a young Aegon V Targaryen (Egg) 90 years prior to the events of “A Song of Ice and Fire.”

Martin also wrote in his blog post that Peacock has passed on his “Wild Cards” show, based on his sprawling world of science-fiction and superhero novels. The “Wild Cards” adaptation was originally set at Hulu in 2018 before moving to Peacock in 2021, though it was not ordered to series. Martin said that after the writers strike, he will try to find a new home for the show.

Season 2 of AMC’s “Dark Winds,” which Martin executive produces, is in post-production on five of its six episodes, which will air this summer. He said that no decision on a Season 3 will be made until after the strike.

Martin wrote that “House of the Dragon” Season 2 will continue filming, as the scripts were finished months ago and will not have any more revisions.

“Across the ocean, the second season of ‘House of the Dragon’ started filming April 11 and will continue in London and Wales. The scripts for the eight S2 episodes were all finished months ago, long before the strike began. Every episode has gone through four or five drafts and numerous rounds of revisions, to address HBO notes, my notes, budget concerns, etc. There will be no further revisions. The writers have done their jobs; the rest is in the hands of the directors, cast and crew… and of course the dragons),” Martin wrote.

Finally, the author gave an update on his penultimate “A Song of Ice and Fire” novel, the long-delayed “The Winds of Winter,” which was originally dated for 2014.

“Some of you, I fear, may be having anxiety attacks just now, on the mistaken assumption that this strike affects ‘Winds of Winter.’ You can relax,” Martin wrote. “The WGA is a union of film and television writers. It has nothing to do with novels, short stories, or any other form of prose fiction, nor comic books and graphic novels, nor stage plays, nor the editing of collections and anthologies. I have on-going projects in all those areas, and that work continues unabated. And ‘Winds’ continues to be priority number one.”

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