Video screenshot by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper/CNET

The "Game of Thrones" countdown is on -- the hit HBO fantasy show returns on July 16 for its seventh season. But fans know that the clock is ticking. After those upcoming seven episodes air, there'll be just one more season before the show ends for good.

Still, have faith, Westerosi. Author George R.R. Martin revealed Friday on his site, Not A Blog, that progress is being made on the five other shows in the "Thrones" universe.

"The five successor shows are moving forward at various rates of speed," Martin wrote. "And there are a couple other TV projects that I can't tell you about ... how much of this will come to pass, nobody knows. Ah, the joys of development ..."

The "five successor shows" are, of course, the shows announced in early May as taking place in the "Thrones" universe," but at different time periods, so the current characters won't be appearing. (Here are some plots we'd like to see.)

Originally, four shows were announced, but then Martin revealed the number was five. His blog post doesn't reveal any specifics, but it's good to know the shows are progressing.

Martin has plenty of other dragons about to hatch. He wrote that he's talking with Universal Cable Productions, the company that in 2016 acquired the rights to adapt his long-running Wild Cards series of anthologies and mosaic novels, about three possible Wild Cards series.

And then there's that last bit: "And there are a couple other TV projects that I can't tell you about." Oh, George. We can see where Ramsay Bolton got his liking for torturing people...

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