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During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, in a massive article that previews House of the Dragon novelist George R.R. Martin — who created the A Song of Ice and Fire series that the megahit franchise Game of Thrones is based on — indicated he fears becoming a Stan Lee-like figure in the Thrones universe.
Martin’s point is that, towards the end of his career and life, Lee wasn’t actually contributing stories to the characters he helped create and was just being used for “conventions and cameos.”
George R.R. Martin doesn’t want to become the “Stan Lee” of Game of Thrones
“Sometimes I sit around trying to figure out who the hell I am in this whole scenario. Am I George Lucas? Am I Gene Roddenberry? Am I Stan Lee? How do I relate to this IP? Because those are three different stories as to where they wound up.”
“I don’t know. Not Stan Lee at the end. He had no power, no influence. He wasn’t writing any stories. He couldn’t say, ‘Don’t do this character.’ He was just a friendly person they brought to conventions and who did cameos. To be sidelined on the world and characters that you created, that would be tough.”
With HBO currently developing about seven or eight Game of Thrones spin-off shows, Martin is certainly going to be busy in the coming years. The 73-year-old served as a creator and producer on the upcoming prequel House of the Dragon, for example. So busy, in fact, that the long-awaited publication of The Winds of Winter somehow feels more unlikely than ever.
House of the Dragon boasts an ensemble cast that features the likes of Matt Smith (Last Night in Soho) as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One) as Alicent Hightower, Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man) as Otto Hightower, and Paddy Considine (Peaky Blinders) as King Viserys Targaryen, and more. The series’ first season will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, August 21, 2022.
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