HBO renews George RR Martin development deal

HBO has renewed its exclusive development deal with George R.R. Martin, originally signed back in 2013.

The deal continues to give HBO the exclusive right to tap Martin for ideas for new TV shows and movies. These ideas may be based directly on Martin's own works (including further works in the Game of Thrones settings of Westeros and Essos) or on other authors' works which Martin recommends to them.

Martin has already been doing this for seven years, developing Nnedi Okorafor's novel Who Fears Death as a TV show (which is now moving forwards with Tessa Thompson producing and Aïda Mashaka Croal showrunning) and Roger Zelazny's novel Roadmarks (with Kalinda Vazquez showrunning). During this time HBO has considered a number of other projects proposed by Martin, including a potential adaptation of Martin's earlier novel Tuf Voyaging and a number of classic SFF novels (rumoured to be from the likes of Robert Silverberg, Nancy Kress and Robert Heinlein). They also filmed a Game of Thrones spin-off pilot which did not move forwards, before greenlighting the series House of the Dragon, which is due to start shooting imminently.

As well as House of the Dragon, HBO are considering multiple spin-off shows based on Game of Thrones, including Nine Voyages (based on the life story of Corlys Velaryon), Ten Thousand Ships (based on Queen Nymeria's flight to Dorne) and Flea Bottom. They have also proposed series based on the Dunk and Egg novellas and on Robert Baratheon's rebellion, with some reports that one of these series will be adapted as an animated series rather than in live-action.

Martin will be named as a producer or executive producer on these projects, but will not be writing directly for any of them due to his commitment to finishing the next Song of Ice and Fire novel, The Winds of Winter. Martin reported in November making strong progress on the novel through last year, with a hope that the ending may be, if not imminent, then at least lurching unsteadily into distant view.

Tessa Thompson to produce Nnedi Okorafor/George R.R. Martin project WHO FEARS DEATH at HBO

Slightly older news, but I missed it when it broke: actress Tessa Thompson (Westworld, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame) has signed a new development deal with HBO and has stepped into an executive producer role on the long-percolating Who Fears Death TV series, which has been in development since 2017.

Who Fears Death is based on the novel of the same name by Nnedi Okorafor. George R.R. Martin proposed a TV adaptation of the book to HBO as part of his long-term development deal with the streamer, following the success of the Game of Thrones TV series (based on his Song of Ice and Fire novel series). It was thought that the project may have been moved to the backburner whilst HBO launched a Game of Thrones spin-off show, Blood of the Dragon, which starts shooting in the UK soon. This news makes it sound like the project has taken a step forwards.

Thompson has set up a new production company, Viva Maude, and is also producing an adaptation of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (a short story collection by Deesha Philyaw) for HBO Max.

At the moment Thompson is only attached to produce, but may also choose to act in one or both projects if a suitable role is available and her schedule clear. The actress is currently reprising her role as Valkyrie on Thor: Love and Thunder, which recently started filming in Australia.

Who Fears Death also now has a showrunner in the form of Aïda Mashaka Croal (Jessica Jones, Luke Cage).

Nnedi Okorafor's WHO FEARS DEATH optioned by HBO

Nnedi Okorafor's 2010 novel Who Fears Death has been optioned as a mini-series (or potential ongoing series) by HBO.

The novel, which melds elements of fantasy with post-apocalyptic science fiction, is set in a futuristic version of the Sudan, where a young woman named Onye is born after her mother is raped. She discovers she has remarkable powers, and sets out to defeat her evil, abusive father. The novel won the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the 2010 Carl Brandon Kindred Award, and was nominated for the Locus and Nebula awards.

The novel can be a harsh work, featuring as it does rape, sexual abuse and female genital mutilation. But the book has also been highly praised for tackling those issues in an adult and serious manner, and for continuing a recent trend of SF and fantasy for exploring African (or African-esque) milieus, given that most SF completely ignores the continent.

According to Okorafor, George R.R. Martin is on board as an executive producer (as part of his development deal with HBO), although given his workload this is more likely to be in the form of advice and possibly having brought the book to HBO's attention in the first place. The project has taken four years to get the green light, and it remains to be seen if HBO takes the project to the screen. This is a challenging project to get right and something rather different from HBO's usual fare, but it's good to see them tackling a different of kind TV series.