Television
Writing for ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoff ‘The Hedge Knight’ comes to a halt
George R.R. Martin has thrown his support behind the Writers Guild of America as ‘The Hedge Knight’ pauses its writers room.
Add the upcoming ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoff, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight’, to the list of projects that has been affected by the ongoing writers strike.
Author George R.R. Martin revealed in a blog post on Monday that the upcoming series has paused its writers room in order to show support for the Writers Guild of America.
“I am not in LA, so I cannot walk a picket line as I did in 1988, but I want to go on the record with my full and complete and unequivocal support of my Guild,” wrote Martin.
“How long will the strike last? No idea. Maybe the AMPTP members will come to their senses tomorrow and offer some meaningful concessions, and the whole thing can be wrapped up next week. I would not bet the ranch on that, however.
“I have been through several of these since I first started writing for television and film in 1986. The 1988 strike, the first I was a part of, lasted 22 weeks, the longest in Hollywood history.
“The 2007-2008 strike, the most recent, went for 100 days. This one may go longer. The issues are more important, and I have never seen the Guild so united as it is now.”
HBO ordered ‘The Hedge Knight’ last month
Martin’s comments come after HBO announced it had ordered ‘The Hedge Knight’ during a Warner Bros. Discovery investor presentation.
“A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naive, but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg,” reads an official description of the show.
“Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.”
So far there are three novellas in the ‘Tales of Dunk and Egg’ series written by Martin: ‘The Hedge Knight’, which came out in 1998, ‘The Sworn Sword’ in 2003 and ‘The Mystery Knight’ in 2010.
The three were published together as ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ in 2015.