Game of Thrones spinoff pivoting to animation, says Blue Eye Samurai stan George R.R. Martin

Although the tip of Game of Thrones in 2019 dovetailed instantly into information that HBO was in growth on a slate of spinoff collection spearheaded by supply materials writer George R.R. Martin, 2024 solely appears like the start of a GoT onslaught. Home of the Dragon, the one present that’s gone earlier than cameras (in addition to a completely completely different pilot that was shot and scrapped), will return for season 2 this summer season. A Knight of Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, adapting Martin’s Dunk and Egg story, has a greenlight with lofty objectives of arriving earlier than yr’s finish. A Jon Snow collection would possibly nonetheless be within the works? Simple to imagine, however there aren’t any formally introduced plans.

However Martin, a author who loves to tease epic conclusions, continues to pique fan curiosity with updates on every thing else that will or is probably not occurring in HBO’s Max-driven Westeros universe. And the latest replace considerations a present that’s apparently transferring at a clip: 9 Voyages, a naval warfare-themed spin following Lord Corlys Velaryon that was beforehand referred to as The Sea Snake, which was deliberate for live-action however will now take the shape of an animated collection.

In a put up on his personal site, Martin notes that 9 Voyages was deliberate on the size of Game of Thrones and Home of the Dragon, however as growth went on with showrunner Bruno Heller (Rome, Gotham), it was clear the imaginative and prescient was prohibitively costly. “The necessity of creating a different port every week,” Martin writes, “from Driftmark to Lys to the Basilisk Isles to Volantis to Qarth to… well, on and on and on. There’s a whole world out there. And we have a lot better chance of showing it all with animation. So we now have three animated projects underway.”

The animated model of 9 Voyages joins two different unnamed animated Game of Thrones initiatives in growth. Martin notes none of them at the moment have the greenlight from HBO/Max, however provides “we are getting close to taking the next step with a couple of them.” It’s unclear in the event that they’re all destined for Max premieres; later this yr, Warner Bros. Photos will launch a totally animated Lord of the Rings movie, The Struggle of the Rohirrim, in theaters. The fitting Thrones story might make the identical play.

Pivoting to animation over live-action hasn’t shaken Martin’s enthusiasm for the story, and if something, it makes him extra excited concerning the potential of adapting much more of his A Music of Hearth and Ice tales. And that’s as a result of George R.R. Martin rightfully stans Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai. Polygon’s #2 present of 2023, Blue Eye Samurai honed basic samurai tropes with trendy motion choreography and dimensional drama. We ate it up and so did Martin.

“I hardly know where to start on this one,” he writes. “Once we started watching it, we could not stop […] it is violent, visceral, sexy (and more than a little kinky in spots), with amazing action sequences and a cast of well-developed characters, colorful and complex and real. Flawed heroes, villains who are more than cartoons (though they are cartoons, being drawn, after all). It reminded me of some books I read… what was the title of that series, now? Something about a song… ”

Blue Eye Samurai shares a notable reference to Game of Thrones: Jane Wu, who supervised the animated collection and choreographed a lot of its motion, designed set items for each the unique collection and Home of the Dragon. And her work on the live-action collection, which required large quantities of storyboarding and pre-visualization animation, impressed her to reverse engineer her course of for Blue Eye Samurai, during which she tried to direct for live-action then convert into cartooning with French studio Blue Spirit.

“I got this idea through [our main] character,” Wu informed Polygon final November. “She is biracial. So I wanted this production, and when you’re looking at it, to feel like it’s a great blend of both animation and live action. I wanted to show that there is strength in that diversity.”

In Martin’s eyes, the bar for 9 Voyages and the opposite Thrones animated venture has been set.

“But if it does happen, with one or two or all three shows, I hope we can make them as good as gorgeous and gripping as Blue Eye Samurai,” he writes. “We will for damn sure try.”