Game of Thrones author George RR Martin hints at Arya Stark project with Maisie Williams

Martin revealed that he had met with former Thrones star Maisie Williams "for pizza and pasta", but it appears this was more than your typical friendly catch-up.

Martin wrote in his blog post that the two of them "talked about… well, no, better not get into that, do not want to jinx it. But it could be so much fun."

Naturally, Thrones fans have been theorising about what exactly this could be referring to, with rumours now swirling of a return in some form for Arya Stark.

Of course, we'd all be wise to take this with a pinch of salt for the time being. Martin is prone to lacing his blog posts with headline-grabbing comments, with every chance this remark might end up going nowhere.

However, the timing is notable given that the Thrones franchise is growing, with House of the Dragon set to return for season 3 and fellow prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (adapting the 'Dunk and Egg' stories) also on the way.

There certainly seems to be an appetite for more Westeros stories among fans and commissioners, with HBO boss Casey Bloys attempting to smooth over reported disagreements between Martin and House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal.

"When we put shows together, it’s like putting a marriage together," he said at a press event (via Deadline). "Marriages can be difficult, especially when Ryan Condal is making creative decisions and adapting work.

"It can be fraught. Any marriage can get rocky. I would prefer everybody get along, of course. But with the creative process, we are always going to have bumps. That’s to be expected."

Bloys went on to announce that the long-gestating Game of Thrones spin-off that would have followed Jon Snow (Kit Harington) is no longer in development, but added that the network could "try again" some day to make it work.

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