The Small Council: If a Game of Thrones movie is made, what should it be about?

The idea of a Game of Thrones movie has been kicked around for a while, by everyone from fans to HBO executives to George R.R. Martin himself. If one is ever made, what would we like out of it? Should it continue the series? Should it depict an event from the rich history of Westeros or Essos, and if so, which one? The Small Council is in session.

DAN: Let me make one thing clear up front: I don’t want a movie to continue the TV series. Game of Thrones has come this far on HBO, and I think it should finish there.

However, I would watch the crap out of any number of movies based on the rich history of Westeros and Essos. There are a LOT of time periods to choose from, but the one I most want to see depicted on the big screen is the Dance of the Dragons, a civil war that divided Westeros around 170 years before the events of the show. (This war isn’t mentioned much, although you might remember Shireen reading about it toward the end of Season 5).

Here are the basics: after King Viserys I Targaryen died, there was a war of succession between two of his potential heirs. On one side, you had Rhaenyra Targaryen, Viserys’ eldest daughter and the person he had chosen to succeed him. On the other, you had Aegon II Targaryen, Viserys’ son by a later wife. Without getting into the many, many details, the two go to war, with certain noble houses pledging themselves to Rhaenyra and others pledging themselves to Aegon, and the realm runs red with blood.

I apologize if that last bit sounds melodramatic, but imagining a movie based on this stuff inspires that sort of talk.

Here’s what would kick these hypothetical films into the stratosphere: dragon-on-dragon aerial battles. Remember, this war pitted Targaryen against Targaryen, and at this time the dragons hadn’t yet died out. There’s a dragon battle outside Storm’s End, there’s a dragon battle over the Gods Eye that involves one rider hopping from one dragon to another…there’s even a side-story about a common girl named Nettles who trains a dragon and fights for Rhaenyra in an important battle. Hell, I’d watch a movie based on that alone.

Admittedly, the story might be a bit dark for Hollywood—in true George R.R. Martin fashion, a lot of the characters are morally compromised, and it ends with many of the principal players dead. Still, the idea of dragons fighting dragons presents a lot of exciting cinematic possibilities.

RAZOR: I would love to see the Doom of Valyria and what actually caused it. I’ve always found the Dragonlords of the Freehold of Valyria extremely fascinating, and if you take into consideration the fact that House Targaryen was considered a minor House before fleeing across the Narrow Sea to Dragonstone, the story becomes even more interesting. Of course, in order to show the Doom of Valyria, a film would need to start at the beginning, when the Valyrians of old were sheep herders, back before they were taught by the people beyond Asshai to bend the will of dragons.

I want to see the Freehold in all its glory. I want to see the Fourteen Fires, and the birth of dragons. I want to see the rise of Valyria as its people conquer the Old Ghiscari Empire. I want to see ancient heroes like Garin the Great and the warrior queen Nymeria of the Rhoynar try to halt Valyrian expansion, before falling to the might of the Dragonlords. I want to see many and more dragons flying freely through the Freehold. I want to know if there were greater dragons than Aegon the Conqueror’s own Balerion the Black Dread, who was so large that his teeth were said to be as long as swords, and his jaws big enough to swallow an aurochs whole.

Finally, before the Doom, I want to see the Targaryens pack up and leave. I want to see how they transported their dragons to Dragonstone, and how they settled the castle. I want to see the Targaryen lineage before Aegon the Conqueror, because it was his ancestors that shaped who he was, and why he chose to conquer the Seven Kingdoms. The Doom of Valyria has always been such a fascinating mystery to me, and I feel like its story could only be told on the big screen, with an appropriately large budget.

ANI: What do I want a movie of? The prequel of course. The Year of the False Spring, the Tourney at Harrenhal, the moment when Rhaegar and Lyanna fell in love. The “kidnapping” of Lyanna, when Rhaegar stole away with her from Winterfell. Robert’s Rebellion. The fall of the Targaryen dynasty that had ruled unbroken for centuries. The Battle of the Trident. We don’t have to see Lyanna’s death, the show will be providing that footage for us next year. But I would love to see it end with the birth of Dany, and the escape across the Narrow Sea.

Why? Because so much of the flashbacks and the storytelling has been cut from the TV show,. but those tales that are told to past along the time on road trips are part of the deep richness of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. I understand why the show has to cut it, but animated histories that are included on the DVD extras aren’t enough to fill in the back story properly. I don’t see HBO making a series about the history that lead directly to the Westeros we know todya, any more than I can see them making a movie of the final episodes of Game of Thrones instead of airing them as Season 8, as is only right and proper. But though the early historys, from the Age of Heros to the Doom of Valyria hold a special interest for me, I think my heart would want to see how those characters we’ve come to know became that way. Heck, go full peter Jackson and make it a trilogy of movies if you like. Just don’t forget that the Knight of the Laughing Tree should probably be played by Maisie.

CAMERON: What if Thrones went completely off-book with its hypothetical film? I know it would probably never happen and it’s not even strictly relevant to the story being told, but one or two of the Dunk & Egg stories would make for some pretty entertaining film. I know there are obviously better candidates for a film, but I think HBO could use something a little offbeat in the world of Westeros, and Dunk & Egg is just the thing.

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