# The next Game of Thrones **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048 "2014-05-23T00:05:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/21 "2014-05-23T18:31:55Z")
I think Brandon Sanderson’s _Mistborn_ universe would work well as a series. There’s actually a lot of magic, but it’s very physical and action-y magic. And it has a concrete-ness to the magic that can be explained to the viewer in simple terms. I’ll admit, I never want to see an Inquisitor on screen though. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/22 "2014-05-23T18:34:46Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Have we reached the point where Asimov’s _Foundation Trilogy_ could be done? It would require the same level of slicing through the boring stretches as GOT (well, OK, a bit more) but I think there’s enough of an audience now for the intellectual aspects, and our generation has changed the rules of society radically enough to make it all more plausible. > > (Gollum + Counselor Troy) \* Littlefinger = The Mule? I feel like the constant changing characters would make it a little difficult. Maybe do it American Horror Story style and have each season be a jump with the same actors playing different characters. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/23 "2014-05-23T20:14:01Z")
> [@Orr\_G](#): > > While GoT was playing on HBO, Starz was running Camelot. It was, it seemed to me, meant to catch the overflow of GoT viewers who wanted more of the same each week (at least in my area, Starz comes with the HBO package, so they are synergistic rather than competitors). They wanted to capitalize on the not yet aired GoT, and so created, conceptualized, filmed, and produced a series 16 days before its competitor came out? I didn’t see it, but might someday. IMHO GoT is more intriguing because it’s not a story that has been done many times before, but “with a twist” each time. I don’t have cable, but recall that HBO and Starz are separate where I lived. Encore came with Starz. HBO and Starz together sounds great! > [@magnusblitz](#): > > Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy might work, but there’s a lot of torture scenes, and there is a huge magical showdown near the end of the trilogy. Also, a lot of the plotlines (besides Glokta’s) are kinda slow-burning. GoT is like 5% torture scenes. (10% boobs, 20% travelling, 30% gore, 30% courtroom intrigue, and 5% HODOR) ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/24 "2014-05-23T20:39:28Z")
> [@magnusblitz](#): > > Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy might work, but there’s a lot of torture scenes, and there is a huge magical showdown near the end of the trilogy. Also, a lot of the plotlines (besides Glokta’s) are kinda slow-burning. I think the major hurtle with them is that they’re just a little bit too funny to be a serious-most-of-the-time drama like GoT but are way too dark to even be a black comedy. I think the “comedies where terrible things happen to people” thing works a little better in the UK, but I couldn’t really see them being made by a major US network. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/25 "2014-05-23T21:50:57Z")
I don’t think it is any funnier than GoT (TV show), the only difference is the funny stuff is actually in the book rather than mostly made up for TV. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/26 "2014-05-23T22:01:51Z")
I thought Game of Thrones was the next Rome. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/27 "2014-05-23T22:25:29Z")
I would nominate Roger Zelazny’s “Chronicles of Amber” series. It’s got everything Game of Thrones has, in spades. Dynastic struggle for succession … of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE! Strong, well developed characters who will DO ANYTHING to win? Oh, YEAH, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/28 "2014-05-23T22:48:40Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I would nominate Roger Zelazny’s “Chronicles of Amber” series. It’s got everything Game of Thrones has, in spades. Dynastic struggle for succession … of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE! Strong, well developed characters who will DO ANYTHING to win? Oh, YEAH, baby! This. A great idea for a series. I recommend Guy Gavriel Kay’s [The Fionavar Tapestry](http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Tree-Book-Fionavar-Tapestry/dp/0451458222/ref=la_B000AQ6VIO_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400885144&sr=1-2). Part modern, part a medieval world, with modern sensibilities but doom waiting around the corner. To me, Guy Gavriel Kay is the best writer in English today. I adore his _Tigana_, but it’s a stand-alone book. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/29 "2014-05-23T23:02:33Z")
Amber would be OK if they ditch all the 1970’s slang. I love Zelazny with a passion, but a lot of the dialog in Amber hasn’t aged well (and to be honest, it’s not his best work to begin with). > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > This. A great idea for a series. > > I recommend Guy Gavriel Kay’s [The Fionavar Tapestry](http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Tree-Book-Fionavar-Tapestry/dp/0451458222/ref=la_B000AQ6VIO_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400885144&sr=1-2). Part modern, part a medieval world, with modern sensibilities but doom waiting around the corner. To me, Guy Gavriel Kay is the best writer in English today. I adore his _Tigana_, but it’s a stand-alone book. I’m a big fan of Kay, and of \*Tigana \*in particular - who’d have thought? - but I’m not sure the Tapestry would work on TV. It’s just too _much:_ too much magic, too much pilfered mythology, too much melodrama. Even many Kay fans think a little Tapestry goes a long way. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/30 "2014-05-23T23:35:14Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’m a big fan of Kay, and of \*Tigana \*in particular - who’d have thought? - but I’m not sure the Tapestry would work on TV. It’s just too _much:_ too much magic, too much pilfered mythology, too much melodrama. Even many Kay fans think a little Tapestry goes a long way. I love Kay but didn’t read beyond the first book of the Tapestry. I thought it was pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![danhanegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb9ed0/32.png) [@danhanegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danhanegan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/31 "2014-05-24T00:32:45Z")
I’d love to see Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion series. Not sure you could get away with it, though. None of the plots really make sense without going into details of the Five Gods, and I can just see Christian militants going berserk over the pagan theology. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/32 "2014-05-24T01:50:47Z")
If it’s more George R.R. Martin the HBO suits want, his novel _Fevre Dream_ (vampires along the Mississippi before the Civil War) would make a great miniseries; likewise _Tuf Voyaging_ (a sf environmental satire set in the distant future). Martin’s even said that the actor who plays Varys would be well-suited to play the lead character, Haviland Tuf. Tolkien’s _The Silmarillion_ could easily be made into a multiple-season series. Not as much sex, unless that’s added, but plenty of bloodshed and epic adventure. With a big budget and the right casting, I’d be all over that. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/33 "2014-05-24T03:03:27Z")
Here’s an idea to strike horror in us all: What if it’s Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series? :eek:…:eek:…:eek:…:eek:…:eek: Oh my God, that’s what they’re going to do, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/34 "2014-05-24T05:12:44Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I think Brandon Sanderson’s _Mistborn_ universe would work well as a series. There’s actually a lot of magic, but it’s very physical and action-y magic. And it has a concrete-ness to the magic that can be explained to the viewer in simple terms. As much as I’d love to see a Mistborn series, I think it’s got two problems: First, the magic in the universe is pretty easily explained in text, but on screen, it’s either going to lead to a lot of repetitive exposition, either to remind current viewers, or introduce new ones, to what’s going on, or it will have to rely on people turning to the Internet for explanation. And unlike GoT, the magic in the Mistborn universe is pretty foreign to what people are familiar with. In GoT, we get dragons and zombie-ish wights, already pretty familiar concepts, and even then we get them only occasionally. The story, so far at least, is really about the politics and people. In the Mistborn series, though, the magic is much more unique to that particular universe, more central to the story, and gets used a lot more frequently. But I think the bigger problem is exactly what you said: the magic is very action-y. Combine that with how frequently it’s employed, and the special effects and stunts required are just going to make such a television series unattractive budget-wise. Or it will wind up poorly done. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/35 "2014-05-24T06:36:26Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Not quite answering the OP, but I would kill to see a big budget version of David Gemmells “Legend” on the big screen. > > I am genuinely surprised it hasn’t been done yet, it seems like one of those stories that could be adapted to a screenplay quite easily. Ooh, good one. I’m also a fan of his _Rigante_ series… those might make for good TV. Split it up into two separate series, since there’s a few hundred years or so between the first two and second two books. Good character moments, and a couple of big fight scenes that they could spend most of the budget on. Not a lot of magic, except maybe for the end of the fourth book. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/36 "2014-05-24T08:30:17Z")
How about Gene Wolfe’s _Book of the New Sun_? Or Roger Zelazny’s _Chronicles of Amber_? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/37 "2014-11-28T02:19:26Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Have we reached the point where Asimov’s _Foundation Trilogy_ could be done? It would require the same level of slicing through the boring stretches as GOT (well, OK, a bit more) but I think there’s enough of an audience now for the intellectual aspects, and our generation has changed the rules of society radically enough to make it all more plausible. > > (Gollum + Counselor Troy) \* Littlefinger = The Mule? > [@TruCelt](#): > > Here’s an idea to strike horror in us all: What if it’s Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series? > > :eek:…:eek:…:eek:…:eek:…:eek: > > Oh my God, that’s what they’re going to do, isn’t it? [OK, so](http://www.starz.com/originals/outlander) seriously,[what do I win here?](http://io9.com/hbo-will-make-asimovs-foundation-with-interstellars-jon-1657018306) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/38 "2014-11-28T02:48:43Z")
Two for two, pretty impressive. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/39 "2014-11-28T02:56:45Z")
> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#): > > But I think the bigger problem is exactly what you said: the magic is very action-y. Combine that with how frequently it’s employed, and the special effects and stunts required are just going to make such a television series unattractive budget-wise. Or it will wind up poorly done. Yes. Pushing and pulling are really the ones that would be most effects-heavy, and there’s a LOT of that. The rest of them are more in the non-visual category, which has its own problems. How do you convey that someone is soothing or rioting? Pewter can be shown by the usual tropes for great strength or balance or speed, but that’s not anywhere near as dramatic as pushing or pulling. I’d love to see it done, though. ---
**Author:** ![VanillaGorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@VanillaGorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaGorilla)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048/40 "2014-11-28T12:49:16Z")
How about the Empire trilogy, by Janny Wurts and Raymond Feist? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-next-game-of-thrones/689048.md?page=3)