As usual, James Hibberd at EW gets the big scoop. We’ve talked before about HBO’s executives confirming that they’re interested in exploring the A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones universe after the series is done, but this is the very first concrete news regarding it. Per Hibberd,
Most of the assigned writers have experience writing major theatrical films, and Martin is personally involved in two of the projects. The show ideas are from Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island, Fox’s Minority Report); Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service, X-Men: First Class) along with Martin; Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale, L.A. Confidential); and Carly Wray (Mad Men) with Martin.
Also, Hibberd confirms Benioff and Weiss will be executive producers on any eventual show(s). It’s not exactly a surprise, however, given that they brought the property to HBO in the first place, so they would retain a stake. It’s pretty clear they will not be showrunners, however.
Some further thoughts below.
It’s amusing that Helgeland is involved, since many years ago George cited the existence of A Knight’s Tale as a reason for why he doubted a Dunk & Egg series could happen. It would be a bit facile to assume Helgeland is exploring “The Hedge Knight”, though, so who can say? Also of interest is that George is directly involved in two of the four scripts, with Jane Goldman and Carly Wray. (Amusingly, I’ve been on a Mad Men re-watching binge, and am just starting into the 6th and 7th seasons where Wray’s credits for that show turn up).
We’ll have some further thoughts on what these four different ideas after we mull it over a bit more. The article ends by indicating that HBO is hoping at least one of the projects will get off the ground, and that it’s entirely possible more than one will be produced as a mini-series.