Even before the announcement that Game Of Thrones would – barring a last-minute brain change on the part of HBO – end with next year's eighth season, there was speculation that a spin-off would likely be figured out to keep the popular, and profitable, universe of George R.R. Martin's writing alive. The channel has now announced that a group of writers have been brought in to work on potential ideas.
Kong: Skull Island's Max Borenstein, Kingsman: The Secret Service's Jane Goldman, Legend's Brian Helgeland and Mad Men veteran Carly Wray have all made deals to at start developing possibilities, with Goldman and Wray also collaborating with Martin in some capacity, though he's not planning to do any writing (his schedule's a little full on that front.) Thrones executive producers Dan Weiss and David Benioff will also be attached, but like Martin, don't plan to write anything.
Nothing has yet been said about what might emerge from this process; it could be more than one show, or none of the ideas may end up compelling enough to continue. But HBO's team is apparently ready to see what happens. “We’ll take as much or as little time as the writers need and, as with all our development, we will evaluate what we have when the scripts are in,” says a spokesperson. The Thrones world is expansive enough that various ideas could work, but not we wait to see whether the writers draw from it, or come up with a new spin.
Season 7, meanwhile, is finally headed our way in July.