A Curious GRRM question

[JT Billow]

I'm not sure if anyone can answer this, unless you work for HBO or if the reasons were made public, and I'm just not aware of them.

Why exactly did HBO choose ASOIAF? I do know that Martin is one of the best, but how did the cable giant and the author find a marriage over other top contenders like Jordan, Erikson, Hobb, Le Guin, Williams, Donaldson, etc etc.

Josh

[Evil Agent]

Le Guin has already been done (and butchered, by the Sci-Fi channel).

Jordan is probably too long, too expensive, and has fallen somewhat out of favour in recent years.

Erikson is probably un-filmable (the books are already insane confusing, I can't imagine anyone making a coherent screenplay out of them). Even if they did, it would be incredibly expensive (i.e. effects).

Martin's ASOIAF appealed to the show producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, because of the depth of the characters and their arcs, the realistic setting, and the surprising plot twists. Benioff and Weiss sold the idea to HBO by convincing them that the story was more about character drama rather than fantasy. Also, the graphic content (sex and violence) is in line with HBO's other hit shows. ASOIAF is much more of a natural "fit" with HBO than any of those other works would have been.

[JT Billow]

Martin's ASOIAF appealed to the show producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, because of the depth of the characters and their arcs, the realistic setting, and the surprising plot twists. Benioff and Weiss sold the idea to HBO by convincing them that the story was more about character drama rather than fantasy. Also, the graphic content (sex and violence) is in line with HBO's other hit shows. ASOIAF is much more of a natural "fit" with HBO than any of those other works would have been/

Thank you; curiosity solved...

[Evil Agent]

Thank you; curiosity solved...

No problem. I've seen and read several interviews with the producers, and they always say the same basic thing. They also mention being reluctant to read the books when they first received them in the mail (because of the sheer size of them), but were quickly both hooked and became huge fans.

[Werthead]

Why exactly did HBO choose ASOIAF? I do know that Martin is one of the best, but how did the cable giant and the author find a marriage over other top contenders like Jordan, Erikson, Hobb, Le Guin, Williams, Donaldson, etc etc.

Evil Agent explained it well. I think the basic idea is that HBO really wanted to work with David Benioff (who they apparently felt was not being well-served by Hollywood fiddling with his movie scripts) and Benioff really wanted to do ASoIaF; he hadn't read any of the other books you mention.

On another level, LeGuin's rights are tied up with the SyFy Channel, Erikson wants to do something outside the Hollywood system (which includes HBO), Jordan's rights are tied up at Universal Studios, Donaldson is likely unfilmable (unless you remove the rape scene that happens five minutes in, and fans would grumble about that) and Williams and Hobb I don't know about.

[saintjon]

I think when Rome came out it had something to do with it too, I remember a lot of people (myself included) saying that if they could pull that off they could probably do ASoIaF.

[Evil Agent]

I think when Rome came out it had something to do with it too, I remember a lot of people (myself included) saying that if they could pull that off they could probably do ASoIaF.

Also, GRRM was already a huge fan of Rome and Deadwood, which made him interested in a possible HBO adaptation.

[Seak]

I think it's not only what EA said, but that it's super low on the magic and everything that is magic (at least in the first season) was a familiar type of "magic" in zombies. Thus, the masses wouldn't be scared off.