Before Game Of Thrones, George R. R. Martin Wrote An Axed '90s Sci-Fi Series

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George R.R. Martin is best known for writing (and, when it comes to "The Winds of Winter," not writing) the fantasy novel series "A Song of Ice and Fire," which of course served as the basis of HBO's smash hit TV series "Game of Thrones." With the prequel series "House of the Dragon" and the charming "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," Martin's fantasy world already has three major TV shows. Fans of Westeros might be surprised to discover that, back in the early '90s, Martin wrote a science fiction TV series for ABC called "Doorways." A feature-length pilot was filmed, but the network ultimately decided not to proceed with the show.

The pilot for "Doorways" begins with a mysterious woman named Cat (Anne le Guernec) suddenly appearing on a highway and causing a crash. She's taken to hospital where she ends up in the care of Dr. Thomas Mason (George Newbern). The FBI becomes interested in Cat, who goes on to traverse parallel Earths with Mason while escaping from a deadly being called Thane (Robert Knepper) — she only has so long to pass through a portal, known as a "door," into the next world before Thane catches and kills her. Martin wasn't the only now-major name involved in the project; a pre-"The Matrix" Carrie-Anne Moss plays Mason's girlfriend Laura.

Much of George R.R. Martin's early TV work has a distinct sci-fi flavor (he cut his teeth working on the '80s revival of "The Twilight Zone" and the satirical cyberpunk show "Max Headroom"), and "Doorways" would have continued that trend. It's a shame that ABC decided not to continue with the series, though if it had, there's a chance we may have never gotten "A Song of Ice and Fire" — Martin was working on the first book in the series when the network ordered a "Doorways" pilot. "I was about a hundred pages into that come fall when my Hollywood agent called," Martin revealed on his blog. "By the time I landed at LAX I had the idea that became 'Doorways.'"

According to Martin, there was a lot of excitement around "Doorways," with ABC moving quickly to strike a deal with him. The network was so keen that they even ordered six back-up scripts, so Martin was almost certain that the show was going to happen in one form or another. So, what happened? As Martin tells it, an executive shake-up killed the project. "One of the iron laws of TV and film came into play: the new guy never likes what the old guy loved," Martin wrote. "The new guys passed on 'Doorways.' We tried to sell it to the other networks, of course, but there were only four back then, and it was a rare thing when any of them bought a show developed by a competitor. They all preferred home cooking."

The pilot episode has since been made available to stream, and if you're interested in knowing where Cat's story goes beyond that, you can — "Doorways" was adapted into a comic book series by IDW Publishing.