On Monday, you may have heard Game Of Thrones author George R.R. Martin is executive producing a television adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death for HBO. You may not have heard that George R.R. Martin isn’t happy with how some outlets have reported the news, but we’re sure you’re shocked he had to issue corrections of media coverage while not writing or perhaps writing Winds Of Winter.
It started when Okorafor tweeted the news:
My novel WHO FEARS DEATH has been optioned by @HBO & is now in early development as a TV series with George RR Martin as executive producer. pic.twitter.com/POF7Dj2hWP
— Nnedi Okorafor, PhD🕷️ (@Nnedi) July 10, 2017
Which led to many news articles George R.R. Martin took issue with on his “not a blog” early Tuesday morning:
As usual, however, the internet is blowing this story all out of proportion, at least in regards to my own participation.
I will be an Executive Producer on WHO FEARS DEATH but I will not be the Executive Producer, i.e. the showrunner. That’s an important distinction. […] I will not be writing the pilot script or adapting Nnedi’s novel, and it’s doubtful that I will write any episodes should we go to series. Look, I probably won’t be writing episodes of ANY television shows until WINDS OF WINTER is done and delivered, and that goes for the five GAME OF THRONES successor shows as well. Other writers will be scripting those pilots, and the same is true for WHO FEARS DEATH.
As for Who Fears Death, it’s a 2010 sci-fi fantasy novel published by DAW. Deadline summarizes that it’s “set in a fictionalized post-apocalyptic future version of Sudan, where the light-skinned Nuru oppress the dark-skinned Okeke.” The story follows Onyesonwu (Igbo for “who fears death”) — whose Okeke mother was raped by a Nuru with magical powers — as she tries to track down and defeat her wizard father using her own magic.
It’s also the perfect book title to catch the eye of a guy who isn’t afraid to kill everyone you love.
(Via George R.R. Martin, Nnedi Okorafor, and Deadline)
