Brian Helgeland was one of the writers working on a Game of Thrones spinoff that George R.R. Martin signed off on but one that HBO did not pick up.
In a new interview, Helgeland discusses why the tentatively titled 10,000 Ships series didn’t happen despite his saying his script “came out great.”
“I think they felt the period of my show was too far removed from the pillars of the original. That’s why it hasn’t been picked up yet, but nothing is ever dead,” Helgeland said in an interview with Inverse.
The Man on Fire and L.A Confidential writer says his script, “was based on Queen Nymeria and this little blurb about her that was in a Westeros encyclopedia. Essentially, it was the story of Moses but swapping him out for Nymeria. Her country gets ruined and her people are forced to live on the water, which is why the show was called Ten Thousand Ships.”
“They end up having to leave and find a new home like the Israelites leaving Egypt,” he continued. “She’s leading all these people, trying to hold everyone together but things are always in danger of falling apart as they travel around a fictionalized version of the Mediterranean, looking for a new home to settle in.”
Helgeland said he met with Martin “to pitch him the idea, which he signed off on” but “didn’t work with him closer” while developing the show.
“It was kind of like Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad films mixed with The Odyssey. In a way, Nymeria is Odysseus, but instead of a 12-person crew, she’s responsible for every citizen in this floating city-state,” he added.
Although the premium cable network didn’t order the script to series, Helgeland doesn’t lose hope, saying, “My work is still there if HBO wants to pick it up. I enjoyed my time developing it, and you just never know.”
