George R.R. Martin reveals dead Game of Thrones prequel series Ten Thousand Ships is alive again

What is dead may never die ... and that includes Game of Thrones spinoffs.

On Wednesday, creator/author George R.R. Martin revealed that the previously scrapped GOT prequel series Ten Thousand Ships is alive once again, this time with recent Pulitzer Prize-winner Eboni Booth writing the pilot.

"She’s an amazingly talented young playwright, and a joy to work with; when not writing and producing her prize-winning plays on- and off-Broadway, she has been kept busy by me and HBO, working on a new pilot for Ten Thousand Ships, a Game of Thrones spinoff about Nymeria and the Rhoynar," Martin wrote on his blog. "We’re all very excited about this one ... though we’re still trying to figure out how we’re going to pay for 10,000 ships, 300 dragons, and those giant turtles."

HBO declined to comment, and a representative for Booth didn't immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.

The new series, set 1,000 years before Game of Thrones, centers on warrior queen Princess Nymeria and the surviving Rhoynar who travel from Essos to Dorne following their defeat by Valyrian and their dragons. Writer Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential), who was developing the show, told Inverse in April that the series was not picked up, but described it as "kind of like Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films mixed with The Odyssey."

Booth won the 2024 Pulitzer Price last month for her play, Primary Truth.

Martin previously spoke out after some in-development GOT spinoffs were "shelved," saying that he "would not agree that they are dead."

"Some of those are moving faster than others, as is always the case with development," Martin said in 2022. "None have been greenlit yet, though we are hoping ... maybe soon. A couple have been shelved, but I would not agree that they are dead. You can take something off the shelf as easily as you can put it on the shelf."

So far, the only GOT spinoff that has aired is House of the Dragon, which is set to debut season 2 on Sunday, June 16. Co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal told EW that they are already deep into planning season 3.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on Martin's novellas that are collectively known as The Tales of Dunk and Egg, is currently in pre-production after development was stalled due to the Hollywood writers' strike. The project is now planning to start filming this spring ahead of a planned 2025 premiere. A series about Aegon I Targaryen, a.k.a. Aegon the Conqueror, is also in early development, and screenwriter Mattson Tomlin (Terminator Zero, The Batman Part II) confirmed that he was attached to the prequel about the storied uniter of Westeros. And an animated series, The Sea Snake, about House of the Dragon's Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), is also in development (previously titled Nine Voyages).

Meanwhile the sequel series centered on Jon Snow starring Kit Harington is "indefinitely shelved," with Harington confirming to EW in an April 2024 interview that "it's not happening."

"We bounced some ideas around and nothing really lit us up. It just didn't," he said. "I think we don't want to do something that's not worth it. So for the time being, we're just shelving it."