Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin signs new five-year contract with HBO

Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has signed a new five-year contract with HBO, a deal reported to be worth "mid-eight figures".

As reported by Hollywood Reporter, the deal sees Martin commit to developing original programming for the network and streaming service.

While it might appear as though the contract cements HBO's commitment to the critically-acclaimed Game of Thrones universe, it's unclear if the new deal is purely related to the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series and its numerous spinoffs and prequels, or if involves other projects, too.

The news comes a few days after three Game of Thrones spinoffs were revealed to be in the works at HBO.

As we reported last week, one of the projects has the working title 9 Voyages and will follow Lord Corlys Velaryon, AKA The Sea Snake, the Lord of the Tides, and head of House Velaryon. The second project has the working title 10,000 Ships and will center on the warrior Princess Nymeria, an ancestor of House Martell who founded the kingdom of Dorne – she was also the namesake for Arya Stark's (Maisie Williams) direwolf.

Series number three will be set in Flea Bottom, a slum in Westeros' capital city of King's Landing where characters like Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) and Gendry Baratheon (Joe Dempsie) were born.

While these projects are still in the early stages of development, House of the Dragon is set to start filming soon.

ICYMI, George R.R. Martin says he wrote "hundreds of pages" of The Winds of Winter in 2020, one of the final chapters in the Song of Ice and Fire saga.

"I wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages of The Winds of Winter in 2020. The best year I’ve had on [Winds of Winter] since I began it," Martin said on his personal blog.

"I need to keep rolling, though," Martin admitted. "I still have hundreds of more pages to write to bring the novel to a satisfactory conclusion. That’s what 2021 is for, I hope," before adding, "I will make no predictions on when I will finish."

Find out what else is on the streaming service with our guide to what's new on HBO Max.

Vikki Blake is GamesRadar+'s Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.