This is not a rush job opportunistically riding franchise momentum. It is a considered, long-gestated literary event.

A franchise that began as a novel returns – pointedly – to its literary roots. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire has now completed a curious full circle. Born as a book series he “never imagined would be anything other than a book,” the franchise was lifted to global dominance by HBO, and is now making its live theatrical debut – not in the West End or on Broadway, but at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Game of Thrones: The Mad King, adapted by Duncan Macmillan (People, Places & Things; 1984) and directed by Dominic Cooke, premieres in summer 2026. The project has reportedly been in development since late 2018, with Macmillan spending years working through Martin’s source material before the two travelled to the US to meet the author in person.

So this is not a rush job opportunistically riding franchise momentum. It is a considered, long-gestated literary event.

Why the RSC, and Why Now?

The RSC’s involvement is strategically shrewd on both sides. For the company, co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey noted that Martin’s dynastic storytelling “sits in a continuum with Shakespeare’s history cycles” – a framing that gives the institution genuine artistic cover for taking on commercial IP.

For Martin’s estate and HBO’s parent Warner Bros., the RSC lends the franchise a cultural legitimacy that Netflix spin-offs cannot.

It is also worth noting that Martin has long cited the RSC’s acclaimed stagings of the history plays as a formative influence on his own writing. – meaning this is not corporate adjacency but a relationship with genuine intellectual roots.

The View From The Beach: Theatre as the New Prestige Extension

Publishing professionals should read this alongside comparable moves: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Hunger Games stage adaptation, and the forthcoming Stranger Things theatrical production. The stage has become the premium extension channel for literary IP – conferring seriousness, reaching audiences who have lapsed from the books, and generating playscript publications that re-enter the bookshop ecosystem.

Notably, industry insiders are already speculating about a West End transfer, possibly to the Gillian Lynne Theatre Deadline – a trajectory that would mirror Cursed Child‘s commercial arc.

The Elephant In The Room

Martin’s sixth novel, The Winds of Winter, has been in progress since 2012. A stage prequel set before the events of the existing books – and backed by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and HBO – risks reinforcing the perception that the franchise’s centre of gravity has permanently shifted away from the page.

For publishers, the question is whether theatrical success re-energises book sales or quietly signals that the unfinished series no longer needs finishing.

Priority booking opens 14 April 2026. Full season details from the RSC on 26 February.

This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsfeed.