George R.R. Martin Urged HBO to Make ‘Game of Thrones’ Run for ’10 Seasons at Least’

With “House of the Dragon” debuting Sunday evening on HBO, “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the network’s franchise, which is adapted from his hit book series.

Although “Game of Thrones” was a superlative hit for HBO, becoming an Emmy darling and garnering a massive fanbase over the years, series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss elected to end the series after eight seasons. Martin has shared that he advocated for many more seasons for the series, giving the storytelling a larger canvas.

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“I was saying it needs to be 10 seasons at least and maybe 12, 13. I lost that one,” he told the Journal.

Ultimately, Martin didn’t have much say in the final stretch of “Game of Thrones,” as the events of the series stretched beyond the storyline established by books he has published so far.

“I had no contribution to the later seasons except, you know, inventing the world, the story and all the characters,” he said. “I believe I have more influence now [on ‘House of the Dragon’] than I did on the original show.”

Martin also spoke about the unconventional process for developing a spinoff of the main series, in which five teams developing separate concepts visited Martin in Santa Fe, N.M. to pitch their respective visions.

“It was like we were in the NFL playoffs and I’m coaching all the teams,” he said. “Emotionally, that was a little odd.”

Notably, HBO shelved one concept after producing a pilot, which starred Naomi Watts and reportedly cost nearly $30 million. Martin apparently had reservations about the concept before it was shot, given that it was set in “an ancient era only briefly described” in his work.

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