This weekend, the biggest revelation at the panel discussion of the SXSW Film Festival in Austin came from “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss: there might be a spinoff of the beloved HBO fantasy drama series.
The panel discussion was moderated by series co-stars and real-life bestfriends Sophie Turner (Sansa) and Maisie Williams (Arya), Buzzfeed reported. Turner asked the all-important question to Benioff and Weiss, considering reports that “Game of Thrones” might soon come to a close in Season 8.
Benioff said, “We all had dinner last night, and we were all saying we should go do different things. The characters who maybe will survive — there’s always going to be this temptation to keep doing it… to do the spinoff show or do the sequel show and everything. And I think HBO might well do one.”
Indeed, even HBO programming president Casey Bloys gave his comment about a potential spinoff as early as January. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, he believed that there is so much material in George R.R. Martin’s books that the network is not discounting the possibility.
“It’s such a big property we would be foolish not to explore it, but it’s a pretty high bar,” he said.
However, Benioff or Weiss might not be involved in any future projects concerning the series unless it’s really good, The Independent added. Benioff said, “I think it's better for them to get new blood in with new visions. We’ll take some shots at it. I’m not going to do it just to do it. It has to feel very special. I would rather have no sequel and leave it as-is then have something we rushed out.”
