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The Game of Thrones‘ spinoff machine has been operating at full capacity ever since the epic fantasy series signed off for good in May 2019.
From the moment that credits began to roll on the controversial finale “The Iron Throne,” HBO has been hard at work trying to identify fresh stories that can be told in writer George R.R. Martin’s sprawling A Song of Ice and Fire universe. Some of these spinoff ideas have already come to fruition like the Targaryen prequel House of the Dragon, the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and a planned series on Aegon the Conqueror. Many other spinoff ideas still linger around on the edges of Warner Bros. Discovery’s budget sheets like a series covering Corlys Velaryon’s “Nine Voyages” and Princess Nymeria’s pilgrimage to Dorne.
Still, amid all of these concepts, the spinoff most heavily implied by the actual Game of Thrones finale remains missing. And that’s, of course, the remaining story of Arya Stark (Maisie Williams). In some of the final moments of “The Iron Throne,” the headstrong Stark daughter bids farewell to her siblings Jon, Sansa, and Bran as she announces her ambition to leave behind the chaos of her home continent. When asked where she’ll venture off to, Arya responds that she intends to find out “what’s west of Westeros,” which is all but a winking promise to the audience for further adventures.
Those adventures have yet to materialize as HBO continues to investigate Westeros’ past in prequels rather than probe its future in sequels. In fact, the one time that a Game of Thrones spinoff turned its eye towards post-finale potentialities it was with an ill-fated Jon Snow series that has now been shelved. After a poorly-received final season, the franchise can be forgiven for investing in concepts that already have a written roadmap from Martin (House of the Dragon hails from his historical text Fire & Blood while A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms comes form the “Dunk and Egg” novellas). But does that mean that no Game of Thrones spinoff will ever address what happened after the events of the series? If one does, it will almost certainly need the involvement of Martin himself. Now, thanks to a new blogpost from the Archmaester himself, it seems as though we could get just that.
In his latest “Not a Blog” entry on his personal LiveJournal, Martin discusses a recent business trip to London. On the docket for Martin was a meeting with his British editors and Duncan Macmillan, the playwright who is adapting a hallowed Game of Thrones historical event (The Tourney at Harrenhal) as a stage play. Tucked at the end of those two announcements (and some photos of George getting off outrageous fits) is a compelling bit of information. It turns out that Martin also met with Arya Stark actress Maisie Williams about a top secret project.
“We also got together with Maisie Williams for pizza and pasta, and talked about… well, no, better not get into that, do not want to jinx it. But it could be so much fun,” Martin writes.
What could be so much fun, George? WHAT COULD BE SO MUCH FUN?!? The most immediate and obvious possibility is the aforementioned Arya Stark spinoff, as that would indeed be so much fun. Longtime readers of A Song and Ice and Fire know that the likely answer to the question of “What’s west of Westeros?” is a compelling one. Throughout Westerosi history, several individuals have investigated that query themselves, including one of Arya’s many ancient ancestors named Brandon. All of these seafarers never made it back home.
That’s probably because the entity that’s “west” of Westeros is actually the “east.” If Martin’s fantasy world exists on a globe (and there’s no reason to believe it doesn’t as fans have dubbed it “Planetos”) then any trip west would eventually conclude in Asshai – Melisandre’s hometown and a port city filled with literal darkness and horrors. They don’t call it “The Shadow” for nothing. If Game of Thrones wants to put Arya Stark’s plot armor to good use, we can think of no better place to explore than Asshai.
Of course, an Arya Stark spinoff isn’t the only thing that Martin could be meeting with Williams about. There are many storytelling avenues that Martin is involved with, both Thrones and otherwise. One of them is even addressed in that same blog entry: the aforementioned Tourney at Harrenhal play. To that end, The Nerdist came through with a rather brilliant proposal. What if Williams is being eyed to portray Ned Stark’s sister Lyanna Stark in the Harrenhal play? Arya is said to have resembled a young Lyanna after all, and getting a Game of Thrones performer to join the production as a different character would be a tremendously satisfying Easter egg for fans.
For as fun as an Arya Stark spinoff would be, we have to concede that pretty much any team up between Martin and Williams involving Game of Thrones sounds just as fun as well.
The post An Arya Stark Spinoff Could Answer Game of Thrones’ Biggest Question appeared first on Den of Geek.
