Hoping for a Game of Thrones spin-off? This showrunner thinks HBO "might well" do one

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We have another nod to a potential Game of Thrones spin-off from showrunner David Benioff, as well as another glum reminder that he and co-runner D.B. Weiss won't be involved. Both gentlemen answered questions at a SXSW Film Festival panel in Austin over the weekend (moderated by Stark sisters Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams), BuzzFeed reports. Benioff said, as the show rapidly approaches its penultimate excursion with Game of Thrones season 7, the topic of continuity naturally comes up.

“We all had dinner last night, and we were all saying we should go do different things,” Benioff said. “The characters who maybe will survive - there’s always going to be this temptation to keep doing it… to do the spinoff show or do the sequel show and everything. And I think HBO might well do one.

“I’m looking forward to watching it, I think it’ll be great, but I think it’s better for them to get new blood in with new visions," Benioff added.

Fans who were hoping for more Thrones under a new name are probably a bit disappointed to hear that the two people most responsible for the original series' success (aside from author George R. R. Martin, of course) don't want to stick around. But it's easy to understand why they're ready to move on after all this time with the show.

For his part, Weiss did at least jokingly suggest one angle for the spinoff to pursue: “Zombie Stark sisters". Maybe try not to read too much into that one.

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.