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“My experience with ‘Game of Thrones’ just confirms that Goldman had it right: Nobody knows anything. Don’t let anyone tell you what’s produce-able, not produce-able,” said the “A Song of Ice and Fire” author on the “Maltin on Movies” podcast, co-hosted by film critic Leonard Maltin and his daughter, Jessie Maltin.

He also revealed that, despite having multiple projects in the works including five shows in development at HBO (up to three of which are “Game of Thrones” spin-offs) and a video game, he doesn’t think he will ever enjoy the level of success of the HBO series.

“The scale of ‘Game of Thrones’s’ success has — reaching all over the world and invading the culture to [such an extent] — it’s not something anyone could ever anticipate, not something I expect to ever experience again,” said Martin.

Part of that reach includes the parents who have decided to name their children after their favorite characters, like dragon queen Daenerys Targaryan.

“Kindergarten teachers are going to hate me, with the “a” and the “y,” when all these little Daeneryses start hitting school,” Martin said, laughing, adding that he routinely gets pictures from pet owners of their similarly monikered dogs, cats and iguanas.

On how the internet has changed fandom in a negative way:

“The internet is toxic in a way that old fanzine culture and fandoms — comics fans, science fiction fans — in those days, was not,” he said. “There were disagreements. There were feuds, but nothing like the madness that you see on the internet.”

It’s something Martin and showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff know well. Following the “Game of Thrones” series finale in May, some viewers expressed their dissatisfaction by starting a Change.org petition demanding that HBO remake the show’s eighth and final season; to date, it has been signed over 1.6 million times. The series finale drew a staggering 19.3 million viewers.

George R.R. Martin Doesn’t Think His New Shows Will Ever Match the Success of ‘Game of Thrones’

The creator of "Game of Thrones" isn't certain that any of his next shows will ever be as popular as the HBO original.

variety.com

 

[Kadayi]

Probably just hedging his bets, it's difficult to capture lightning in a bottle twice, plus being a prequel 5000 years ago, it's going to be a challenge to get some people on board.

 

[Tesseract]

kindergarten teachers hate him

 

[triplestation]

Understandable.

I am hoping to be surprised. I don't have high expectations of the prequel. It's set thousands of years before GOT, so it's not going to involve interplay between lords and kingdoms. That's actually why people loved the show in the first place.

What kind of time period can we expect? I imagine it'll be like the fall of the Roman empire but with slightly more dragons and fantastical beasts. The end of the golden age of heroes. And the kicker is that the Starks' ancestors are involved. The construction of the wall is pending. The seven kingdoms will be set to begin. Shit will hit the fan and descend towards the dark ages. Some cunt will be frankensteined into the night king in attempt to resolve it. A Targaryan ejaculation will be imminent.

"THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE DAY OF THE LORD"

 

[near]

Probably just hedging his bets, it's difficult to capture lightning in a bottle twice, plus being a prequel 5000 years ago, it's going to be a challenge to get some people on board.

Yeah, it's just reasonably thinking. The way GoT entered pop culture almost instantly and was the topic of discussion for around 8 years is just amazing. Not many series can pull off this level of consistency. Better Call Saul was created and attempted to lean on the success of Breaking Bad, and while BCS is absolutely amazing, it's just not as widely appreciated.

 

[manfestival]

9 Years(never forget that they made us wait 2 years for the last season that was a huge disappointment) of Game of thrones goodness is hard for anything to ever match. I really doubt GRRM can create something that is near as good based off of that.

 

[Tesseract]

it'll be up to george, if he is willing to get his hands dirty and write more, if hbo cares enough to keep a steady flow of talent in line ...

prequels generally live or die by the world building or dialogue

 

[Werewolf Jones]

The damage is done, blame yourself George for not finishing off your books while you had the chance.

Anyway, Elden Ring is gonna be the best game of the year when it drops so worry not there.

 

[Kadayi]

Yeah, it's just reasonably thinking. The way GoT entered pop culture almost instantly and was the topic of discussion for around 8 years is just amazing. Not many series can pull off this level of consistency. Better Call Saul was created and attempted to lean on the success of Breaking Bad, and while BCS is absolutely amazing, it's just not as widely appreciated.

Also, the show had a tonne of reference material to draw from whereas at best Goldman and her writers have GRRMs best wishes. I'm still interested to see what she comes up with, but I'm not expecting it to blow my socks off.

 

[DKehoe]

Understandable.

I am hoping to be surprised. I don't have high expectations of the prequel. It's set thousands of years before GOT, so it's not going to involve interplay between lords and kingdoms. That's actually why people loved the show in the first place.

What kind of time period can we expect? I imagine it'll be like the fall of the Roman empire but with slightly more dragons and fantastical beasts. The end of the golden age of heroes. And the kicker is that the Starks' ancestors are involved. The construction of the wall is pending. The seven kingdoms will be set to begin. Shit will hit the fan and descend towards the dark ages. Some cunt will be frankensteined into the night king in attempt to resolve it. A Targaryan ejaculation will be imminent.

There should actually be less dragons, probably none since the Valyrians and their dragons weren't around during that time. The timeline gets a bit fuzzy that far back but the Valyrians were still a bunch of shepherds around the time of the Long Night and hadn't yet discovered dragons or established the freehold.

I am curious to see how this show turns out. Like you say the setting doesn't really include a lot of the aspects that people love about GoT.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Elden Ring > Game of Thrones

 

[triplestation]

There should actually be less dragons, probably none since the Valyrians and their dragons weren't around during that time. The timeline gets a bit fuzzy that far back but the Valyrians were still a bunch of shepherds around the time of the Long Night and hadn't yet discovered dragons or established the freehold.

I am curious to see how this show turns out. Like you say the setting doesn't really include a lot of the aspects that people love about GoT.

How do the dragons come about, anyway?

I'm new to GOT. I only recently marathoned all 8 seasons.

In my head, dragons are animals that used to exist, are somehow related to Targaryans and slowly started to fade out of existence because the Targaryans conditioned them to small enclosures or something. I should look it up. I was always confused.

 

[triplestation]

I'm watching some video explaining the history of Valyria and the Targaryans and goddamn. Our real world is fucking BORING compared to this shit. The Valyrians were pretty bad ass.

 

[DKehoe]

How do the dragons come about, anyway?

I'm new to GOT. I only recently marathoned all 8 seasons.

In my head, dragons are animals that used to exist, are somehow related to Targaryans and slowly started to fade out of existence because the Targaryans conditioned them to small enclosures or something. I should look it up. I was always confused.

It's a little vague really. From what I recall it seems that the Valyrians (who as I mentioned before were pretty much just a bunch of shepherds at the time) discovered some firewyrms in area with a bunch of volcanoes called The Fourteen Flames. They were then able to breed/tame them (with some kind of magic probably being used) into dragons.

The dragons died out because a whole bunch of the ones the Targaryans had were killed off during a Targaryan vs Targaryan civil war and so they were only left with a few which meant future ones ended up all inbred so were less and less developed.

 

[triplestation]

It's a little vague really. From what I recall it seems that the Valyrians (who as I mentioned before were pretty much just a bunch of shepherds at the time) discovered some firewyrms in area with a bunch of volcanoes called The Fourteen Flames. They were then able to breed/tame them (with some kind of magic probably being used) into dragons.

The dragons died out because a whole bunch of the ones the Targaryans had were killed off during a Targaryan vs Targaryan civil war and so they were only left with a few which meant future ones ended up all inbred so were less and less developed.

Very interesting stuff. It's nice knowing they came from such peasant conditions. I hated Daenerys Targaryan but knowing what I know know I feel a bit of sympathy for her. Wow.

 

[DKehoe]

Very interesting stuff. It's nice knowing they came from such peasant conditions. I hated Daenerys Targaryan but knowing what I know know I feel a bit of sympathy for her. Wow.

There's also talk that dragons originate from Asshai which is this mysterious Lovecraftian style city in the east which is where Melisandre is from. The further back you go the more vague the history gets, much like our own history really where it's a lot of "these guys say this, but these other guys say this"

If Game of Thrones takes place during fantasy medieval times then think about Valyria as being the fantasy Roman Empire. Their empire lasted thousands of years so the stuff about them formerly being shepherds is really ancient history. I like it as a detail because it's Martin undermining the glorious image that a powerful group had of themselves by pointing out their humble origin. The Targaryans were actually one of the lesser noble houses of the Valyrians. They just happened (through one of them having a vision) to be the only ones to survive when the Doom of Valyria came. The Doom was another mysterious event which caused the fall of the Valyrian empire that seems to have had something to do with the Fourtneen Flames volcanoes all erupting in a cataclysmic event and wiping out life there.

I'm now rambling a bit, but yeh hope that helped.

 

[triplestation]

There's also talk that dragons originate from Asshai which is this mysterious Lovecraftian style city in the east which is where Melisandre is from. The further back you go the more vague the history gets, much like our own history really where it's a lot of "these guys say this, but these other guys say this"

If Game of Thrones takes place during fantasy medieval times then think about Valyria as being the fantasy Roman Empire. Their empire lasted thousands of years so the stuff about them formerly being shepherds is really ancient history. I like it as a detail because it's Martin undermining the glorious image that a powerful group had of themselves by pointing out their humble origin. The Targaryans were actually one of the lesser noble houses of the Valyrians. They just happened (through one of them having a vision) to be the only ones to survive when the Doom of Valyria came. The Doom was another mysterious event which caused the fall of the Valyrian empire that seems to have had something to do with the Fourtneen Flames volcanoes all erupting in a cataclysmic event and wiping out life there.

I'm now rambling a bit, but yeh hope that helped.

No rambling, anything I learn of this is super interesting.

 

[DKehoe]

No rambling, anything I learn of this is super interesting.

If you're interested in Targaryan history then Martin has written a few short stories that are done in the style of a history book. The Princess And The Queen is maybe a good one to see if they're you're kind of thing. It's about the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryan vs Targaryan civil war I mentioned. which also gets referenced by Shireen Baratheon in the show It was the Targaryans at the height of their power in Westeros so there's a bunch of dragons and even dragon vs dragon fights. The history stories can be a little dry for some compared to the novels so if those aren't your thing then there's a bunch of youtube videos out there too. The Blackfyre rebellion is another interesting topic to look up if you are looking for another cool bit of their history.

 

[triplestation]

If you're interested in Targaryan history then Martin has written a few short stories that are done in the style of a history book. The Princess And The Queen is maybe a good one to see if they're you're kind of thing. It's about the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryan vs Targaryan civil war I mentioned. which also gets referenced by Shireen Baratheon in the show It was the Targaryans at the height of their power in Westeros so there's a bunch of dragons and even dragon vs dragon fights. The history stories can be a little dry for some compared to the novels so if those aren't your thing then there's a bunch of youtube videos out there too. The Blackfyre rebellion is another interesting topic to look up if you are looking for another cool bit of their history.

Thanks. This is gonna be fun.

 

[DiscoJer]

Fandom was actually more toxic in the very old days. Fans could (and sometimes did) get authors more or less banned from pulp magazines, while I'm not sure angry fans on the internet have ever actually impacted anything.

 

[Tesseract]

Thanks. This is gonna be fun.

man i hate to be that guy, but it's not fun triple, bail out homey because that shit ain't worth it

 

[AlteredForms]

Probably just hedging his bets, it's difficult to capture lightning in a bottle twice, plus being a prequel 5000 years ago, it's going to be a challenge to get some people on board.