It was only a matter of weeks ago that is was revealed that HBO currently had plates spinning on four Game of Thrones spinoff shows, and now George R.R. Martin has moved to give some further details on what may or may not lie ahead for these potential new efforts.

In a post on his Live Journal page, Martin explained:

“What we’re talking about are new stories set in the “secondary universe” (to borrow Tolkien’s term) of Westeros and the world beyond, the world I created for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE… None of these shows will be ‘spinning off’ from Game of Thrones in the traditional sense. We are not talking Joey or AfterMASH or even Frazier or Lou Grant, where characters from one show continue on to another. So all of you who were hoping for the further adventures of Hot Pie are doomed to disappointment. Every one of the concepts under discussion is a prequel, rather than a sequel. Some may not even be set on Westeros. Rather than ‘spinoff’ or ‘prequel,’ however, I prefer the term ‘successor show.’ That’s what I’ve been calling them.”

Despite previous reports that Martin was to be involved in helping write two of these four potential new shows, he clarified that he will actually be working on all four ‘successor shows’ – with Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland, and Carly Wray each tackling one of said shows.

Interestingly, the iconic Martin also added that there’s a fifth show being looked at, with him remaining tight-lipped on the writing team for that, teasing, “HBO announced the names of the first four, and will no doubt announce the fifth as well, once his deal has closed. He’s a really terrific addition, however, a great guy and a fine writer, and aside from me and maybe Elio and Linda, I don’t know anyone who knows and loves Westeros as well as he does.”

When the initial news of these shows broke, it was suggested that it was far from definite that all of them would be picked up by the network, and Martin reiterated that, adding, “I do think it’s very unlikely that we’ll be getting four (or five) series. At least not immediately. What we do have here is an order for four – now five – pilot scripts. How many pilots will be filmed, and how many series might come out of that, remains to be seen. (If we do get five series on air, I might have to change my name to Dick Direwolf).”

Concluding by explaining what these shows won’t be about, Martin said, “We’re not doing Dunk & Egg. Eventually, sure, I’d love that, and so would many of you. But I’ve only written and published three novellas to date, and there are at least seven or eight or ten more I want to write. We all know how slow I am, and how fast a television show can move. I don’t want to repeat what happened with GAME OF THRONES itself, where the show gets ahead of the books. When the day comes that I’ve finished telling all my tales of Dunk & Egg, then we’ll do a tv show about them… but that day is still a long ways off. We’re not doing Robert’s Rebellion either. I know thousands of you want that, I know there’s a petition… but by the time I finish writing A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, you will know every important thing that happened in Robert’s Rebellion. There would be no surprises or revelations left in such a show, just the acting out of conflicts whose resolutions you already know. That’s not a story I want to tell just now; it would feel too much like a twice-told tale.”

As for the current main Game of Thrones show, that returns with its Season 7 premiere on July 16th.