Game of Thrones season 6 is just around the corner, and as the cast and creators wrap up the press tour leading up to the season premiere, secrets are still being revealed. But one of the biggest bombshells to drop along the way has to be the reveal that there have been talks about shorter future seasons – and a series finale.

Topping off that news is word that no spinoffs have been considered for the series, which creator George R.R. Martin (like many fans) completely disagrees with. In a recent interview, the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series that spawned the show commented on Westeros’ potential and how showrunners could mine the rich history behind Game of Thrones. 

Martin told EW that in regard to spinoffs, there was no lack of potential for stories, before recalling one of his favorite narratives from TV shows past. What’s more, the author enthusiastically described his ideas of where a potential spinoff could launch – and it’s long before many fans might imagine.

Dunk & Egg is a series of novellas that focus on Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg, who would later go on to become King Aegon V Targaryen of Westeros (and Ser Duncan, a member of his Kingsguard). Despite the usual dark turns of Game of Thrones, this spinoff might carry a lighter tone more focused on action and adventure. So far, there are three novels, all collected in the anthology titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but there are even more stories planned for the future (you know, just like the next book).

“There is certainly no lack of material. Every episode of The Naked City – one of the television shows I watched as a kid – ended with a voice-over: ‘There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.’ There are eight million stories in Westeros as well … and even more in Essos and the lands beyond. A whole world full of stories, waiting to be told… if indeed HBO is interested.

The most natural follow-up would be an adaptation of my Dunk & Egg stories … Each of the novellas could easily be done as a two-hour stand-alone movie for television; that would probably be the ideal way to do them, rather than as an ongoing weekly series.”

Though Dunk & Egg might be an interesting turn from the norm, many fans have other stories in mind – such as the Targaryen rise to power, when dragons flew freely. Perhaps setting the stories that Game of Thrones descended from could work as a mini-series as well.

Game of Thrones season 6 will premiere on HBO on April 24, 2016.

Source: EW