George R. R. Martin as soon as promised on his weblog that he would not write anything till he completed his subsequent “A Track of Ice and Hearth” ebook, “The Winds of Winter.” That was 10 years in the past. In reality, he is been busier than ever since then, between pondering whether or not to kill fan-favorite “Sport of Thrones” characters who survived the “Track of Ice and Hearth” TV present adaptation, approving each change that “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” makes to his “Dunk and Egg” tales, feuding with the “Home of the Dragon” showrunners, and growing stage performs.
That is proper: Not content material with the limitless cavalcade of canceled “Sport of Thrones” TV spin-offs, or those presumably nonetheless occurring, Martin is now shifting to the world of dwell theater. In his Not a Weblog, he revealed that he is working with The Royal Shakespeare Firm on “Sport of Thrones: The Mad King.” Written by Duncan Macmillan and directed by Dominic Cooke, the stage play will function a prequel to “A Track of Ice and Hearth.” Extra particularly, it’ll inform the story of the nice tourney at Harrenhal, which Martin’s first “Track of Ice and Hearth” ebook describes as a pivotal second in Westeros historical past. Thought of the best tourney of its time, this scandalous occasion introduced collectively the nice homes of Westeros and is taken into account the prelude to Robert’s Insurrection.
That is, clearly, an enormous story that is by no means been absolutely advised earlier than and guarantees to be stuffed with twists and turns that paint different “Sport of Thrones” tasks in a complete new gentle. And but, that itself begs the query: Why deliver this story to life as a stage play that few followers will get to expertise? Certainly, by being introduced this fashion, “The Man King” may both destroy or save the franchise.
What number of Sport of Thrones spin-offs do we’d like?
This might all go certainly one of two methods. Within the worst-case situation, “The Mad King” may really feel just a little like “Stranger Issues: The First Shadow,” a play that explored “Stranger Issues” huge dangerous Vecna’s backstory and was important to understanding the present’s ultimate season. Besides, most people had no means of seeing the play earlier than the ultimate season of “Stranger Issues” premiered (and a professionally filmed model of “The First Shadow” is barely now coming to Netflix), so that they ended up lacking out on some essential story particulars.
To be clear, the tourney at Harrenhal is not only some cool factor that occurred previous to the occasions of “Sport of Thrones.” Actually, it is the important thing to understanding the present’s whole plot. To recap: The tourney ended with Prince Rhaegar Targaryen giving his favor to Lyanna Stark regardless of her being betrothed to a different man and him being already married to a different girl. A 12 months later, Rhaegar was believed to have kidnapped Lyanna, which, in flip, incited Robert Baratheon to steer a bigger rebel in opposition to the realm’s Targaryen rulers, practically wiping them out and seizing the crown for himself. “Sport of Thrones” has since revealed that Rhaegar and Lyanna have been really in love (with Package Harington’s Jon Snow being their son), however “The Mad King” may provide much more perception into the incident and characters that set this entire plot in movement.
On the similar time, “Sport of Thrones” is now at risk of being franchised to dying, with each single element of its story giving rise to a spin-off that is deemed vital for understanding all the pieces else. We have already got George R.R. Martin’s unique books and a number of TV spin-offs (with much more within the works); is not that sufficient homework already?
Alternatively, The Mad King may give Sport of Thrones followers what they have been ready for
Thoughts you, that is not the one means of taking a look at this challenge. Alternatively, you might consider “The Mad Variety” as an surprising reward to followers. Critically, let’s not child ourselves: George R.R. Martin can promise he is making progress on “The Winds of Winter” all he needs, however who is aware of if he’ll ever really end the “Track of Ice and Hearth” novels. All the identical, that should not stop people from attending to study extra concerning the bigger “Sport of Thrones” universe and its historical past.
One of many stars of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has already unintentionally spoiled a vital plot level from Martin’s upcoming works, so what’s a number of extra spoilers? Sure, the creator is likely to be planning to disclose all there’s to know concerning the Harrenhal tourney in “The Winds of Winter” or his ultimate “Track of Ice and Hearth” ebook, “A Dream of Spring,” however at the least we now know for sure we’ll be getting these particulars due to “The Mad King.” In addition to, it is doable that Martin had solely beforehand meant to inform this story in a companion ebook like “The World of Ice & Hearth.” In comparison with that, a stage manufacturing — one developed by the famend Royal Shakespeare Firm, no much less — is a a lot sweeter deal.
Maybe Martin’s fantasy world is just too huge for a single medium, and all that these spin-offs will actually do is enrich it. In that case, “The Mad King” may provide followers the prospect to study extra about its historical past with out having to attend an eternity for Martin to (possibly) end his books.
