HBO is getting ready to premiere the penultimate season of its worldwide hit, Game of Thrones, and fans everywhere are preparing to mourn as their beloved fantasy epic comes to a close.

But not so fast – HBO revealed Thursday that it’s got four potential spin-offs in the works with four different teams of writers, reported The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap. Two of those teams include Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin. Game of Thrones’ David Benioff and Dan Weiss would be executive producers, although not necessarily writers, on any follow-up series.

Besides Martin, the four different takes are being written by Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland and Carly Wray, according to THR. Martin is working with Goldman and Wray, while Borenstein and Helgeland are working on their own. None of the four have previously worked on Game of Thrones.

Borenstein is mainly a features writer, having penned the screenplay for this year’s Kong: Skull Island starring Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston and 2014’s Godzilla. He does have some experience in TV and fantasy, having written lasts year’s Minority Report reboot on Fox. Coming up, he’ll stay focused on big monsters with Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019 and the obvious next entry in both franchises: Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020.

Goldman also has a lot of feature cred, having written both action and fantasy adventures. She wrote the screenplay adapting Neil Gaiman’s Stardust to the big screen, as well as Kick-Ass. She’s also worked on two X-Men movies – First Class and Days of Future Past, and two Kingsman movies – The Secret Service and The Golden Circle.

Oscar-winner Helgeland, who took home the trophy in 1997 for writing L.A. Confidential and was nominated again in 2003 for Mystic River, also wrote and directed Jackie Robinson biopic 42, as well as Legend, starring Tom Hardy. He wrote 2010’s Robin Hood as well as The Taking of Pelham 123.

Wray is the only true TV writer in the bunch, having worked on AMC’s Mad Men, FX’s The Bastard Executioner and HBO’s The Leftovers.

There’s a wide range of potential stories from which a spin-off could draw, since Martin has created such a vast world. One option is a series that tells the story of what happened just before the start of Game of Thrones, including Robert’s Rebellion that saw Robert Baratheon claim the throne of Westeros from the long-ruling Targaryens, and the forbidden romance between Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark that brought Jon Snow into the world.

Another could be drawn from Martin’s Duck and Egg novellas about young Aegon V and the hedge knight, Sir Duncan the Tall, for whom he squired as an anonymous boy. A third option would be taking on the Blackfyre Rebellions, led by Brynden Ravens who became the Three-Eyed Raven (Max Von Sydow) seen in Game of Thrones, when one line of Targaryens rebelled against the other. The series also could move into the as-yet-unpenned future of Westeros.

Season seven of Game of Thrones debuts on HBO on Sunday, July 16.

READ MORE: The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap

​[Image of ‘Game of Thrones’ courtesy of HBO via The Hollywood Reporter]

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