Canceled Game Of Throne Spin-Off Is Un-Canceled As New Pilot Moves Forward

Look, if you've been paying even the slightest amount of attention to /Film's coverage of all the various "Game of Thrones" spinoffs and prequels in development over the last few years, then you know exactly how we have to open this article about a previously-canceled series that might be coming back to life. In the prescient words of House Greyjoy: "What is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger."

While those house words were referring to the act of, uh, intentionally drowning themselves to prove how TOUGH they are (the Greyjoys were a weird bunch), it still feels pretty relevant when it comes to an unexpected bit of news regarding "10,000 Ships." It was initially reported to be in the works back in 2021 with writer Amanda Segel attached and was intended to tackle a particularly interesting era of Westerosi history. Centered on the legendary figure known as Princess Nymeria (a particular heroine for Maisie Williams' Arya Stark in the original show, if you remember), the prequel story would've followed "...the journey made by warrior queen Princess Nymeria and the surviving members of the Rhoynars, who travelled from Essos to Dorne following their defeat by the Valyrian Freehold in the Second Spice War." If that sounds like some seriously dense and complicated lore, well, you're not alone. HBO apparently agreed, since the concept ended up unceremoniously placed on the chopping block.

But anyone familiar with "Game of Thrones" knows that death is not always the end. Rather than waste precious time working on his manuscript for "The Winds of Winter," the penultimate book in "A Song of Ice and Fire" that everyone's been waiting for, Martin decided to drop the news that "10,000 Ships" is back on track — this time, with a new writer in charge. 

Alert the realm! Even as the world gears up to return to Westeros with the upcoming premiere of "House of the Dragon" season 2, the first expansion of "Game of Thrones" to make it to the air, HBO is reportedly looking further down the line towards a more nautical-based series that they initially decided to pass on. In a new blog post on his personal website (yes, some Boomers still have those), author George R.R. Martin spilled the beans on a pretty significant "10,000 Ships" update. While congratulating writer Eboni Booth on winning a Pulitzer Prize for her theater play "Primary Truth," Martin went ahead and revealed that Booth has also been hired to write a new pilot episode for "10,000 Ships," which did not die:

"[Booth's] an amazingly talented young playwright, and a joy to work with; when not writing and producing her prize-winning plays on- and off-Broadway, she has been kept busy by me and HBO, working on a new pilot for 'TEN THOUSAND SHIPS,' a 'GAME OF THRONES' spinoff about Nymeria and the Rhoynar. We're all very excited about this one ... though we're still trying to figure out how we're going to pay for ten thousand ships, three hundred dragons, and those giant turtles."

While HBO tends to offer nigh-unlimited budgets to their flagship shows, we think Martin's joking with that ships and dragons quip. (On the other hand, the "giant turtles" line refers to a minor god that will likely factor into the series.) We know the broad strokes of what initially inspired this series ... but it remains to be seen if this new creative hire means the series will take a slightly different approach than before. Fingers crossed this receives a green light!