11 Things We Know About Those New "Game Of Thrones" Shows

They're definitely not sequels.

There's been a lot of rumours flying around in the Game of Thrones fandom about HBO creating up to FOUR new spinoffs of the epic show once it's over.

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Author George R.R. Martin took to his blog to clear things up, and revealed some very interesting details:

1. There are actually five pilot scripts in development.

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GRRM said while it was initially reported there would be four scripts developed, HBO has since added a fifth to the lineup.

2. But that doesn't mean five shows will be created.

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Or even that five pilots will be shot. At this stage HBO has ordered pilot scripts, nothing more. GRRM said, "Decades of experience in television and film have taught me that nothing is ever really certain... but I do think it's very unlikely that we'll be getting four (or five) series. At least not immediately. What we do have here is an order for four — now five — pilot scripts. How many pilots will be filmed, and how many series might come out of that, remains to be seen. (If we do get five series on the air, I might have to change my name to Dick Direwolf.)"

(Nice pun game, GRRM.)

3. There are writers officially attached to four of the scripts, and they're a pretty impressive bunch.

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There's Godzilla writer Max Borenstein; Jane Goldman, who wrote The Woman in Black and co-wrote the likes of Stardust, X-Men: First Class, and Kingsman; Brian Helgeland, who won an Oscar for his L.A. Confidential screenplay; and Carly Wray, who has written for The Leftovers and Mad Men.

4. The fifth writer is yet to be announced, but is someone who knows and loves Westeros as much as GRRM himself, the author said.

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5. None of the potential shows will be sequels or spinoffs in the traditional sense – i.e. they won't feature characters we know and love.

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"We are not talking Joey or AfterMASH or even Frasier or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another. So all of you who were hoping for the further adventures of Hot Pie are doomed to disappointment," GRRM said, crushing our dreams.

6. It seems they'll all be set prior to the events of Game of Thrones.

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GRRM said they'll all be prequels or, as he likes to call it, "successor" shows.

7. But they don't seem to be direct prequels that will include our faves, either – at least, none of them are about the events of Robert's Rebellion.

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GRRM said, "I know thousands of you want that, I know there's a petition... but by the time I finish writing A Song of Ice and Fire, you will know every important thing that happened in Robert's Rebellion. There would be no surprises or revelations left in such a show, just the acting out of conflicts whose resolutions you already know. That's not a story I want to tell just now; it would feel too much like a twice-told tale."

Here's hoping we'll see some of those events play out onscreen before Game of Thrones is done, at least (*cough* Rhaegar Targaryen *cough*).

8. None of the scripts are related to GRRM's Dunk and Egg stories, either.

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The Tales of Dunk and Egg is a series of novellas that take place in the world of Westeros about 90 years prior to the Game of Thrones events. GRRM said he'd like to see them adapted in the future, but he still has about "seven or eight or ten more" Dunk and Egg stories he wants to write, and he doesn't want to get into the same situation he did on Game of Thrones, where the show overtakes the books.

9. One of the ideas being developed is GRRM's.

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He pitched two potential stories to HBO last year, and one of them is moving forward.

10. But GRRM is working with all of the writers on their scripts.

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He said he's had multiple meetings with them individually to discuss the history and world of Westeros – and drink margaritas.

11. And the whole team is dedicated to making them just as good as Game of Thrones.

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"The one goal that EVERYONE involved shares here is to make these new shows just as good as Game of Thrones itself," GRRM said. "No easy task, mind you. David Benioff and Dan Weiss are a tough, tough act to follow, as all those Emmys demonstrate."

Read more at GRRM's blog.