George RR Martin suggests Game of Thrones prequel spin-off that HBO will almost certainly make

The much-loved author wants to adapt his Dunk & Egg novellas as a follow-up

Game of Thrones has made a household name of author George RR Martin (Rex Features)

The idea of a Game of Thrones spin-off might have been given a firm “no” by HBO, but George RR Martin has “a whole world full of stories’ that he wants to share with viewers.

Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire books on which the show is based, believes there are “eight million stories” in his fantasy land of Westeros alone.

“There is certainly no lack of material,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “Every episode of The Naked City, one of the television shows I watched as a kid, ended with a voiceover: ‘There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them’.

“There are eight million stories in Westeros as well and even more in Essos and the lands beyond. A whole world full of stories…if indeed HBO is interested.”

Martin went on to suggest The Tales of Dunk and Egg, which take place in Daenerys, Sansa and Tyrion’s world some 90 years earlier. So far there is a trio of novellas centering around ‘hedge knight’ Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg, who go on to become a member of the Kingsguard and King Aegon V Targaryen of Westeros respectively. Readers can find these stories in the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms anthology and Martin has many more up his sleeve.

“Each of the novellas could easily be done as a two-hour stand-alone movie for television; that would probably be the ideal way to do them, rather than as an ongoing weekly series,” he said. “The Hedge Knight and its sequels are lighter than A Song of Ice and Fire, more in the realm of action-adventure.”

There have been no discussions about Game of Thrones spin-offs yet, but HBO programming chief Michael Lombardo hinted that he could be swayed if Martin “really felt that it was the right thing to do” or if current showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss jumped on board.

“Not knowing how this particular story ends, I don’t know,” Lombardo said. “There are plenty of characters, secondary characters you could build a world around. We’re always going to be drawn to a strong creative vision. But we are not going to do that unless we feel their passion.”

We don’t know about you Michael, but we’re feeling the passion, and if rumours that the next two seasons of Game of Thrones will be shorter are true, you’re going to need to make it up to us.

Game of Thrones season six premieres on Sunday 24 April at 9pm in the US and 2am here.