Let’s dreamcast “10,000 Ships,” HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel series

HBO has hired a writer to develop Game of Thrones series “10,000 Ships,” about the sea voyage of Princess Nymeria. Who should play who in this prequel show?

Filming is underway on HBO’s first Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, and there are reports of many more shows in the oven. It’s starting to feel like every other day holds some new announcement for the Thrones-verse (official name pending).

One of the more concrete things we’ve heard is that HBO has hired writer Amanda Segal (The Good Wife) to develop a show tentatively called 10,000 Ships, about the journey of the warrior princess Nymeria from Essos to Westeros roughly a thousand years before the events of Game of Thrones. Nymeria was one of the rulers of a people who lived on the river Rhoyne, a people so formidable at their height that they even took on the freehold of Valyria and their dragons.

But they weren’t formidable enough, and were defeated by the might of Valyria in war. Enter Nymeria, who decides that the only solution is to lead the remnants of her people on an epic sea voyage to escape the reaches of the Valyrian empire. The scattered Rhoynar spend several years at sea searching for a new home before eventually landing in Dorne, where Nymeria burns the Rhoynish fleet to signify that their wanderings are at an end.

Unlike House of the Dragon or the rumored Tales of Dunk and Egg adaptation, there isn’t much in the source material on which to base 10,000 Ships. Aside from a handful of pages in The World of Ice and Fire and some small references in A Song of Ice and Fire, we really don’t know many details about who Nymeria was, how she ruled, or how she handled the taxing journey from Essos to Westeros.

We do know some of the broad strokes though, and even those are enough to get us excited. If developed into a full-blown show, Nymeria’s journey would take us to places in George R.R. Martin’s world that we’ve never seen on the screen or the page. Moreover, we’d get to see how Dorne came fully into its power, since that’s where Nymeria ultimately ends up.

Let’s look at what we know about Nymeria and the other characters who populate her story, and then decide who should play them! Starting with the woman herself…

Hannah John-Kamen as Princess Nymeria of Ny Sar

When it comes to dream-casting the story of Nymeria’s voyage, there’s no role more important than the leading lady herself. Nymeria is fierce and determined; she has the wisdom to rule and the ingenuity to keep her people alive against all odds.

Hannah John-Kamen is best known for her role as Ghost in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, which shows that she could pull off an action-heavy role like Nymeria. John-Kamen finds depth and nuance in the characters she portrays, and as one of the few characters who would be around for basically the whole run of the show, Nymeria would need both of things in spades.

Moreover, John-Kamen has a look that would fit Nymeria perfectly. The people of the Rhoyne are described as having olive skin as well as dark hair and features. They’re basically ancient precursors to the Dornish, which makes sense as Nymeria eventually settles in the sandy country and marries Mors Martell. The union of Nymeria and Mors’ two peoples gives rise to the Dorne we know from A Song of Ice and Fire.

All that said, quite a lot happens before Nymeria ever sets foot on Dornish soil and burns her fleet of 10,000 ships. And we can’t talk about how she hammered Dorne into the power that it became without first discussing how she arrived there, starting with why her people left the banks of Rhoyne in the first place.