HBO has “a lot of ideas” for Game of Thrones spinoffs, won’t rush into any

These days, expanded universes are all the rage. Look no further than the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars, both of which have a steady supply of fresh new shows all year round. Producing myriad spinoff shows has become common practice for successful franchises. However, HBO is taking a cautious approach with Game of Thrones stories. There is a spinoff on the way — House of the Dragon arrives in August — but nothing beyond that…yet.

HBO has famously erred on the side of caution in regard to Game of Thrones spinoffs. They axed a prequel series despite spending $30 million on a pilot, moving on to House of the Dragon instead. At least this series will actually make it to screens.

Let’s hope disasters like that don’t plague HBO’s future spinoff shows, because they have several projects in the pipeline, as HBO’s VP of programming Kara Buckley reminded us at the ATX Television Festival:

"We developed a lot of ideas, we were still developing a lot of ideas, and I think we’re really excited about the one that will air later this summer."

However, unlike the never-ending conveyor belt of content at Disney, for instance, don’t expect too many projects to be released in a short space of time. “But, we don’t feel the need to make another one unless it feels really creatively exciting to us,” Buckley continued. “That’s my job, at least. And the team that I’m on, that’s what we’re told to focus on.”

It feels like there’s a definite focus on quality rather than quantity.

Which other Game of Thrones spinoffs could we see? 

House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s 2018 book Fire & Blood. But that’s not the only companion story Martin has written. He’s also published a series of novellas about the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall, a hedge knight wandering the Seven Kingdoms for work, and his squire Aegon Targaryen, aka Egg. Back in January 2021, it was reported that a spinoff based on Tales of Dunk & Egg was in development, but we haven’t much about it since.

Dunk and Egg isn’t the only potential spinoff. There are a ton of different ideas going around. Another popular choice is the story of Nymeria and her 10,000 ships, which she led to Dorne to escape conflict in Essos. Apparently there’s a show about that was in the works, too.

Who knows what the future has in store? The expanded Game of Thrones franchise kicks off with House of the Dragon on August 21.

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h/t SlashFilm