Over the weekend, HBO finally confirmed that the much-talked about 'Game of Thrones' prequel series would be going ahead with a pilot given the green light.

It will be set thousands of years before the events of 'Game of Thrones' and focus on how the White Walkers came to be. If a series is commissioned, Jane Goldman will serve as showrunner.

'Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin took to his blog on Monday to give his thoughts on the exciting news saying: "We’re very early in the process, of course, with the pilot order just in, so we don’t have a director yet, or a cast, or a location, or even a title. (My vote would be 'The Long Night', which says it all, but I’d be surprised if that’s where we end up. More likely HBO will want to work the phrase "Game of Thrones" in there somewhere. We’ll know sooner or later.")

Martin went on to sing the praise of potential showrunner Goldman (who has written the pilot script) saying: "All of the news stories about the pilot being greenlit are slapping my own picture up there next to Jane’s, which is very flattering but also a little misleading."

Going on to say: "I have definitely been involved… but really, the accolades here should go to Jane. She has been an absolute thrill to work with… and my God, what a talent.

"Those of you who are fans of not just 'Game of Thrones', but of television, film, and sf and fantasy in the broader sense are already well familiar with her work, whether you know it or not.

"She’s wrote the 'Kingsmen' movies, scripted one 'X-Men' film and did the story for another, did the screenplay for the adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 'Stardust', and for the superhero satire 'Kickass' as well. Among lots of other credits. Oh, and she’s written the script for Disney’s forthcoming live action version of 'The Little Mermaid' too. Can’t wait for that one."

(Fun fact: She's also married to Jonathan Ross.)

There was initially talk that there were quite a few 'Game of Thrones' spin-offs in the works, and Martin addressed that saying: "As for the other successor shows… if you have been following along, you know that we started with four, and eventually went to five. One of those has been shelved, I am given to understand, and of course Jane’s pilot is now moving to film. But that does not mean the others are dead.

"Three more 'Game of Thrones' prequels, set in different periods and featuring different characters and storylines, remain in active development. Everything I am told indicates that we could film at least one more pilot, and maybe more than one, in the years to come. We do have an entire world and tens of thousands of years of history to play with, after all. But this is television, so nothing is certain."

He has also reassured fans that he is still busy finishing writing the last 'Game of Thrones' book saying: "And yes, before you ask, work on 'Winds of Winter' continues, and remains my top priority. It is ridiculous to think otherwise. If I wasn’t busy with 'Winds', don’t you think I’d be scripting one or more of these pilots myself? It’s not as if I’ve never written for TV… "

So never fear 'Game of Thrones' fans, between another book and spin-off series', there is still plenty more stories to come from the world of Westeros and beyond once those final credits roll in 2019.