Earlier this week, British tabloid The Daily Star reported that A Song of Ice and Fire series writer George R.R. Martin had confirmed the long-running rumors that a “Game of Thrones” movie was in the works. Exciting, right?

Except for one thing: It’s not true.

In an email to The Huffington Post, Martin’s assistant said that the statements attributed to the author in the Daily Star article — allegedly made at an Emmy party — are “not direct quotes.”

Martin also sent HuffPost a statement directly addressing the movie rumors. “There’s been talk about it,” he said. “I’d love to see one, but nothing is decided.”

Martin affirmed the falseness of the rumors in a comment on his LiveJournal page as well, saying, “No one is working on any movie just now. And if there was a movie, it would not be about Robert’s Rebellion.”

A representative from HBO agreed, writing, in an email, that the Daily Star story was “not at all correct.”

That all sounds quite definitive — at least for now. Martin’s statements, especially, seem to leave the door open for a movie at some point in the future.

Part of the reason rumors about a possible “Game of Thrones” movie have been so persistent is that there was a long-held belief that a film could somehow help skirt the problem of the show plot overtaking that of the book series. The idea seemed to be that if the show gets ahead of the books, HBO could stop the show, leaving the thread of the book storyline to be picked up several years later, after the release of the last book, on the big screen. Yet unless Martin releases his next book, The Winds of Winter, in the next few months, the show plot will overtake the book plot in Season 6, which is being filmed right now.

Moreover, everything HBO executives have said so far indicates that they’re committed to airing at least seven — and quite possibly eight — seasons of the show. So it seems more likely that if there is a movie — a big if — it would focus on some other story from the world of the books. Apparently, though, not Robert’s Rebellion.

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