There are a lot of Game of Thrones prequel series currently in development at HBO. There’s House of the Dragon, about a brutal Targaryen civil war. There’s an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg, a show about Princess Nymeria of Dorne, a mysterious animated series, and more.
How many of these will actually make it to the screen? The jury’s out on that one, but there’s a certainly a lot that piques our interest. However, journalist James Hibberd recently revealed to French fansite La Garde de Nuit (that’s French for “the Night’s Watch,” FYI) that there aren’t quite as many spin-offs in the hopper as we thought.
Hibberd has long had his finger on the pulse of Game of Thrones. He broke lots of exclusives over the years, many of them cataloged in his excellent book, Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon. He broke the news that HBO was considering making a prequel about Robert’s Rebellion, the war that put Robert Baratheon on the Iron Throne a decade and change before the main story begins. He also was the first to report that there was a Broadway play in the works about the Tourney at Harrenhal, a key event that led directly into Robert’s Rebellion.
As it ends up, these two were actually the same project. “The Robert’s Rebellion project I teased turned out to be the Broadway show in development that I recently reported,” Hibberd told La Garde de Nuit, “which I am also excited by – if you have seen Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, you know how a special effects filled stage show with new twists on fan-favorite characters can bring a fantasy world to life in a new way.”
I’m excited by the play idea too, although one of things I like is that, unlike Cursed Child, it all takes place in one location over a relatively short period of time and shouldn’t require a ton of special effects. But we’re getting off track. Hibberd’s revelation takes the number of Game of Thrones spin-offs in development from seven to six, not counting the play.
James Hibberd confirms the number of Game of Thrones prequels in development at HBO
That’s still a lot, but as Hibberd notes, there’s no guarantee we’ll see all of them. “The others I am less sure about at this point, but I would not count them out either,” he said. “As we have seen with Disney+ and Star Wars and Marvel, it is possible to expand these franchises in new and unexpected ways.”
But there is one prequel we’re definitely going to see: House of the Dragon, which looks like it’s begun filming. “I am excited for House of the Dragon. Co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik really knows what he is doing in this world and is going to bring his own artistic sensibility to the show. Also, the story has a lot of the elements that made the first series work. ”
The first season of House of the Dragon is due out in 2022. As for the rest, we wait.
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h/t Los Siete Reinos