George R.R. Martin, the acclaimed author of A Song of Ice & Fire, shared updates on New Year’s Eve about several animated projects set in Westeros.
In a recent blog post, Martin revealed his plans for three animated shows, including the transition of the Nine Voyages series, originally live-action, to animation. This shift to animation for Nine Voyages, following the legendary Sea Snake Corlys Velaryon (played by Steve Toussaint in the House of the Dragon series), is driven by budgetary constraints, as animating the diverse and vast maritime settings is more feasible than live-action production. Martin’s endorsement of the animated format underscores the potential to fully portray the expansive world from Driftmark to Qarth.
“Work on the other two animated projects continues apace, however…and meanwhile, we have moved NINE VOYAGES, our series about the legendary voyages of the Sea Snake, over from live action to animation. A move I support fully. Budgetary constraints would likely have made a live action version prohibitively expensive, what with half the show taking place at sea, and the necessity of creating a different port every week, 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.”
In his blog, Martin also expressed admiration for Blue Eye Samurai, a Netflix series he highlighted as a streaming gem. He then transitioned to discussing his animated ventures, emphasising that while none have been officially greenlit, progress is being made.
“As it happens, HBO and I have our own animated projects, set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire,” Martin continued. “None of them have been greenlit yet, but I think we are getting close to taking the next step with a couple of them. When this last round of development started a few years back, we had four ideas for animated shows, with some great talents attached. Writers rooms and summits, outline and scripts followed in due course… but, alas, two of the original projects were subsequently shelved.”
Fans of Game of Thrones continue to eagerly await updates on Martin’s next novel, The Winds of Winter, which has been pending for over a decade. However, Martin’s focus on expanding the Westeros universe through animation and other spinoffs, such as Jon Snow’s sequel show, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, and the Aegon’s Conquest prequel, offers new content to explore.
While The Winds of Winter remains a highly anticipated project, fans can look forward to season 2 of House of the Dragon on HBO as the next installment in the Game of Thrones series.
Natalie is a big fan of anything related to movies, TV shows, games, and comics — you name it. When she’s not reading or geeking out about the latest shows on Netflix, she’s probably playing Honkai: Star Rail, cosplaying, or daydreaming of meeting her idols.
