George R.R. Martin Says HBO’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ Prequel Pilot Won’t Affect ‘Winds Of Winter’, Confirms One Spinoff Concept “Shelved”

George R.R. Martin is providing more details surrounding his recently greenlighted Game of Thrones‘ prequel pilot at HBO.

In a blog post, Martin shared his ideas for a possible title for the pilot and noted that work on the prequel will not impact his work on the long-awaited Winds of Winter.

“We’re very early in the process, of course, with the pilot order just in, so we don’t have a director yet, or a cast, or a location, or even a title,” Martin wrote, but says his preference for a title would be The Long Night, “which says it all, but I’d be surprised if that’s where we end up.” He continued, “More likely HBO will want to work the phrase “game of thrones” in there somewhere,” adding “We’ll know sooner or later.”

He also confirmed that one of five prequel concepts has been “shelved”, but “three more Game of Thrones prequels, set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, remain in active development,” he wrote. “Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come,” he added.

Martin also made clear that “work on Winds of Winter continues, and remains my top priority.” He continued, “If I wasn’t busy with Winds, don’t you think I’d be scripting one or more of these pilots myself? It’s not as if I’ve never written for TV… ).” He also said work on Who Fears Death, a post-apocalyptic drama written by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, based on the sci-fi fantasy novel by Nnedi Okorafo, is progressing well. Martin is executive producing with former HBO President Michael Lombardo on the drama, which is currently in development at HBO.

Created by hot feature scribe Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, Kingsman) & Martin and written by Goldman based on a story by her and Martin, the newly greenlit pilot is set thousands of years before the events of Game Of Thrones. The series is described as chronicling “the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend… it’s not the story we think we know.”