George R.R. Martin, the author of the fantasy novels on which the HBO hit series”Game of Thrones” is based, addressed rumors of a movie in a blog post on Thursday night, saying he’d “love” to develop a feature film.
“Sure, I love the idea. Why not? What fantasist would not love the idea of going out with an epic hundred million feature film?” Martin wrote. “And the recent success of the IMAX experience shows that the audience is there for such a movie. If we build it, they will come. But will we build it? I have no bloody idea.”
HBO executives want 10 seasons of “Game of Thrones,” while co-creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have said they want seven, but Martin is more flexible.
“I don’t know,” he wrote. “No one knows.”
A co-executive producer of the HBO series premiering a fifth season on April 12, Martin weighed in on the subject after Entertainment Weekly published an interview with HBO programming president Michael Lombardo.
“Would I love the show to go 10 years as both a fan and a network executive? Absolutely,” Lombardo said. “We’ll have an honest conversation that explores all possible avenues. If [Weiss and Benioff] weren’t comfortable going beyond seven seasons, I trust them implicitly and trust that’s the right decision — as horrifying as that is to me.”
Martin said the “discussion is nothing new,” whether it’s fans or HBO executives expressing interest in decade-long run. But at this point, any plans past Season 6 are pure speculation.
“Right now, ‘Game of Thrones’ is guaranteed only six seasons. That’s all HBO has officially committed to, by contract,” Martin wrote. “A lot of things can happen between now and season seven, or eight, or nine, things that cannot be anticipated.
“Believe me, I’ve been there,” he added. “I was on staff on an hour-long TV series that was pulled off the air and retooled as a half-hour show. I was on staff on another show that could easily have run five, six seasons … until our lead actress left, and took most of our audience with her.”
“Weird stuff happens in television,” Martin wrote.