Over at “Not a Blog”, George R.R. Martin has written about having watched Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai, a Western animated story of revenge set in Edo Japan. We ourselves suggested fans should check it out shortly after its release when he binged it (over three days, as well, just like GRRM and Parris), suggesting that its adult nature, its bloody action, and its plotting would appeal to fans of A Song of Ice and Fire or Game of Thrones:
We finished the @Netflix animated series Blue Eye Samurai today, and think fans of #GameOfThrones or #HouseOfTheDragon will enjoy its bloody, adult-themed tale of revenge in Edo-era Japan. Also, Alan Taylor directed the penultimate episode, a particularly twisty GoT-ish entry. pic.twitter.com/o1z3fuZEfm
— Elio & Linda (@westerosorg) November 7, 2023
So, a good call from George. But he goes on past praising Blue Eye Samurai to discuss the state of possible animated successors to Game of Thrones... including the big news that the formerly-live Nine Voyages is being retooled as a possible animated series.
As George notes, this brings the total of animated projects in development to three. Initially, though, there were four:
Back at the start of 2021, we were aware of a single, unspecified animated show thanks to reporting from The Hollywood Reporter, and then we learned about two more from James Hibberd, one of which was focused on Yi Ti. So it seems there is or was one more we were never aware of.
Is Yi Ti one of the projects that fell by the wayside? It feels like its focus on Essos is part of the reason that Nine Voyages shifted to animation, but then… would it make sense to not have two animated shows set in the East? We’re only speculating.
Last but not least, GRRM believes two of the animated projects may be approaching getting a green-light, or at least moving into the next stage of development. Fingers crossed!