George R.R. Martin has been quite busy, working on five shows with HBO, three of which are Game of Thrones successor shows, and he’s also developing his own video game. The question is will any of these new projects find that same success Game of Thrones did? Well, he doesn’t believe they will.
He recently did an interview with the Maltin on Movies podcast, with hosts Leonard and Jessie Maltin. He explained to them that “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.”
That cultural reach that Game of Thrones has managed includes parents naming their children and pets after characters. People go so far as to identify with families, whether that is their personal decision or BuzzFeed quizzes that get them there. There are people with collections of sword replicas and Pop! figures, not to mention the DVDs and books. Of course, this also led to a very toxic internet once the show came to an end. Hundreds of thousands of viewers signed a petition for HBO to remake the entire eighth season once they realized where everything was leading, as if there weren’t two more books to solve those problems and answer those questions.
One could argue, however, that these added HBO shows that will be Game of Thrones successors are part of that success. Despite all of the heartache fans gave the showrunners after the May series finale, we are all patiently awaiting these new series that take us back to our favorite world of Westeros. As for the video games and other series, who knows? I think fans will wait on the shows’ conclusions this time before naming their children after characters.
If you are one of the fans still upset by how the eighth season turned out, you will have your chance to air your grievances, and, no, you will not have to wait for Festivus. Game of Thrones cast members, including Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) will be on a panel at the 2019 Comic Con in San Diego. Though you are better off using this opportunity to shower these amazing actors with the praise they deserve for bringing these characters to life.
As for Martin, he is doing a special event this August at Waterstones to promote his latest book, Fire & Blood, if you’d like to show him your appreciation as well.