The Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, is currently hotter than dragon fire. The premiere episode drew in roughly 10 million viewers, shattering the record for the biggest premiere on HBO, ever. The news has the creator of this whole Thrones shindig, George R. R. Martin, a little giddy. The man is ready for Thrones to become a cinematic universe, which, sure! But he can't stop comparing his vision to Star Wars.
Thrilled by his various triumphs, he told the Wall Street Journal that "several" other spin-off shows are currently in development over at HBO. Several! The author added, "we'll have something akin to the Marvel or Star Wars model by the time it's all settled." Martin also voiced his response to criticisms that his show was too violent earlier this week, telling Vanity Fair that"Star Wars kills more people than I do." Live your truth, George, but a Stormtrooper going bye-bye is a little different than House of the Dragon's childbirth scene.
The fantasy writer is clearly looking to the future during this admittedly well-deserved victory lap. But he has one major problem. The Star Wars extended universe-as we know it today-followed 12 films, multiple animated series, novels, comics, video games, toys, and a fandom dating back to 1977 that mainly markets to children. Meanwhile, Martin has yet to finish writing the adult series that brought him fame on HBO. His planned novels, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, have no release date in sight. Furthermore, the controversial ending in Game of Thrones was so universally hated that Martin intends on writing a completely different one in the books. Even if Martin completed his final novels in A Song of Ice and Fire, it still wouldn't exactly be new material to adapt. Game of Thrones needs entirely new stories and its creator is still playing catch-up.
"Sometimes I sit around trying to figure out who the hell I am in this whole scenario," Martin mused to Hollywood Reporter back in July. His first idea comes as no surprise, and he throws out his new favorite topic in the world: "Am I George Lucas?" This was, it seems, the third time in a month that he's brought up Star Wars during an interview. But the Game of Thrones writer didn't stop there. He also compared himself to the late Marvel creator Stan Lee and Star Trek's Gene Roddenberry. When asked whom he most identified with, Martin replied that it was definitely not Stan Lee. He seemed scared of relinquishing power over his fantasy series, and called Stan, "just a friendly person they brought to conventions and who did cameos." With zero self-awareness, he also said that Stan Lee "wasn't writing any stories" near the end of his life. Neither are you, George!
In Martin's mind, however, the stories stuck up in his brain are just as good as the ones that could be existing on the page. In grainy footage from a 1998 fantasy convention, the then-unknown writer told interviewers, "They're doing Lord of the Rings as three films and all three volumes of Lord of the Rings are about the size of one of my books, so I already have nine films by that standard." Fast-forward to the 21st Century, and somehow, those nine films became eight seasons of television. Martin also promised that he would conclude the book series in just five to six more years back then. It's been over two decades.
During that time, he wrote two anthologies-a collection of prequel novellas titled, Tales of Dunk and Egg, and the Targaryen history book, Fire & Blood. (The latter is currently being adapted in House of the Dragon). This is where the well may very well run dry. Martin may have been writing his stories just as long as Marvel, DC, and Star Wars have been around, but he's just one guy. Martin hasn't had the time for multiverses, infinity wars, or increasingly larger Death Stars. Hell, it came as somewhat of a surprise that there was even a massive audience for the second Game of Thrones series on HBO. As much as fans would love Westeros to be as rich and full of stories as Star Wars, maybe we shouldn't be counting our dragon eggs before they hatch.