Game of Thrones' Nine Voyages Spinoff is Becoming Animated

HBO’s House of the Dragon is keeping the Game of Thrones train going along, but it’s not the only spinoff for the fantasy series in the works. In a newly released blog looking back on 2023, author George R.R. Martin revealed he and HBO have a number of animated series in unofficial development—as in, they haven’t been greenlit yet, but he’s fairly positive they will be—and now one of those shows will be hopping over from the realm of live-action.

According to Martin on his Not a Blog blog, the upcoming series Nine Voyages is jumping over to animation, a move he “supports fully.” The reason for the shift is because of budgetary concerns: because half the show is planned to be set in the sea, a live-action version would’ve been “prohibitively expensive,” noted Martin. Animation can also be expensive, but with the medium, he said the show “have a lot better chance” of fully realizing the show.

Voyages is set to focus on Corlys Velaryon, played by Steve Toussaint in Dragon. Corlys is known in-fiction as the Sea Snake, so named because of his ship, which is the most famous of the Velaryon fleet. The show’s scope is pretty big, according to Martin, and is set to span “from Driftmark to Lys to the Basilisk Isles to Volantis to Qarth to… well, on and on and on. There’s a whole world out there.” Again, he’s not 100% sure if Voyages will happen, but if all goes well, it and the other two unannounced animated shows will be in the works and end up on HBO and Max in the next few years. (And if that doesn’t work? Who knows, they may end up as graphic novels, if it can be helped.)

More animation is always a good thing, and if something great can be made from this hit fantasy franchise, all the more power to it. For Martin, it seems like his one goal with any of these projects is for them to be as great as Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai, which he took time to shout out in his blog. “I hope we can make them as good as gorgeous and gripping as [that],” he said. “ Even if you don’t normally watch animation, give it a try. It’s terrific. If you like my own stuff, I think you’ll love it.”

House of the Dragon will come back for season two in summer 2024.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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