At this point, the prolific author of A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin, would rather do anything other than complete The Winds of Winter. This might sound like a harsh way to start off an article, but seriously, after waiting 12 years for winter to come, frustration has set in and bloomed. That being said, GRRM has teased us with more projects set in the Game of Thrones universe that will see the world of Westeros get a whole lot more animated.
In his New Year’s Eve blog post, GRRM began by heaping tons of praise on Netflix’s recent animated series, Blue Eye Samurai. Using all kinds of adjectives to describe how splendid the show is, I can’t blame Martin for being so enamored by it since I was the same way after binge-watching it.
Moving on, Martin revealed that several spin-offs were cooking in HBO’s cauldron of projects, including Nine Voyages. Initially envisioned as a live-action series, Nine Voyages will now unfurl its sails in animated waters.
The show will follow the voyages of legendary seaman Lord Corlys Velaryon (better known as The Sea Snake), so you can expect plenty of naval battles. GRRM also affirmed his full support for the decision to pivot from live-action to animation, and we can clearly see why.
Considering that the series is mainly based at sea, a live-action project would mean creating different ports. From Driftmark to Lys to the Basilisk Isles, the grand scale of a live-action series such as this would be a massive headache for any studio, and that’s not even accounting for the unreasonably high budget it would need. With animation, GRRM and co. can dive deeper (pun very much intended) into this fantastical world without blowing the bank.
Interestingly, this isn’t the only animated project in the pipeline. Martin mentioned that though there were originally four animated projects, two have since been shelved, which means there are two other projects still happening. What they might be, however, is left to the imagination.
To quote him, “there’s a whole world out there,” and from what we’ve seen with House of the Dragon, anything written by GRRM has about a 90% chance of being epic (with 10% being the annoying decision to have D and D complete the Game of Thrones story).
As of writing, none of these projects have received the official green light. Luckily, we have House of the Dragon Season 2 coming later this year, and there’s also a series based on the Tales of Dunk and Egg that’s been commissioned into a live-action show.
We’ll keep you updated as further information about Nine Voyages becomes available.
