Every Game of Thrones spinoff in development HBO, ranked by hype

HBO is developing several Game of Thrones spinoff series, plus one play coming to the Broadway stage. Which are we most excited for?

Prequels, sequels, remakes, reboots, spinoffs…we’re surrounded these days by franchises expanding their universes, and Game of Thrones is no exception. HBO has several spinoffs of its landmark fantasy series in development. Let’s talk about them.

It’s not clear whether all the series we’re going to disnuss will actually be greenlit, let alone make it to your TV screen. Look at what happened with Blood Moon, the first Game of Thrones prequel: writers and crew were hired, actors were cast, and a pilot was shot in 2019, and then the network shut it down. As of now, the only spinoff we’re gotten is House of the Dragon, about a Targaryen civil war that tore Westeros apart nearly 200 years before the original series. And it’s possible that it’s all we’ll get.

Still, there’s a lot of irons in the fire. A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin has signed a five-year deal to develop content for HBO, which probably means he’ll be working on some or all of these shows. His presence will surely ease the worries of some fans, but it’ll ultimately be up to the individual creative teams to make these series work.

Regardless of whether creating a Game of Thrones cinematic universe is a good thing, let’s look at each of the upcoming shows and see if we can get a better feel for them.

House of the Dragon season 2

House of the Dragon is the first and so far only Game of Thrones prequel to make it to air. Before season 1 premiered in August of 2022, fans were skeptical. Some were suspicious after the divisive end of the mothership show, but House of the Dragon satisfied most everyone, from casual fans who simply wanted more dragons to hardcore book-readers who were delighted over how close the show kept to its source material: George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood.

There were some changes, to be sure, like removing the character of Mushroom, who’s off-kilter perspective is missed. And overall the first season of House of the Dragon wasn’t quite as tight as the first season of Game of Thrones way back when. But the new show was more than good enough to quiet many worries, and to get fans eager to see what happens next. How will Rhaenyra react now that her son Lucerys is dead? Will Aegon be able to hack it as king? And what hell will Daemon raise?

In short order, House of the Dragon has established a new cast of popular characters to root for and against. The special effects are starting on a very high level. It feels like we’re back in the heyday of Game of Thrones, and that’s a great thing. A second season will air this summer.

Hype Level: Like old times

For the first time in years, Game of Thrones fans have a new season of TV to look forward to! If House of the Dragon continues the momentum of its first season, we could be looking at a modern classic in the making. – Dan

Tales of Dunk and Egg

"Dunk: “I have no need of a squire.”
Aegon: “Every knight needs a squire. You look as though you need one more than most.”
Dunk: “And you look as though you need a clout in the ear, it seems to me.”"

Not much is known about this show, set about 90 years prior to the events of Game of Thrones, but the source material is very good and extremely adaptable.

Before they were King Aegon V and the Lord Commander of his Kingsguard, Duncan and Aegon were just Dunk and Egg, a hedge knight and his squire. George R.R. Martin has (so far) written three novellas about these fan favorite characters — The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight — and has said he’d love to publish more in the future. At the moment, all three are collected in a volume called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

A television show about Dunk and Egg could work perfectly as a miniseries, adapting each novella into a long feature film-like episode. Think of BBC’s Sherlock and how each story followed a case and the episodes weren’t really interconnected. Similarly, we would follow Dunk and Egg on their adventures through Westeros, one story per episode. We would see their first meeting and watch their relationship develop as they explore the Seven Kingdoms. Martin could produce more novellas about the duo which could be turned into more episodes, but the show should definitely conclude with Egg’s coronation as Aegon V and Dunk’s investiture as Ser Duncan, his most trusted Kingsguard.

Hype Level: High

An anthology format could work very well for this series. Steve Conrad (Patriot, Perpetual Grace) is developing the Tales of Dunk and Egg.

Game of Thrones sequel show about Jon Snow

According to veteran Game of Thrones reporter James Hibberd, HBO is developing a sequel series about Jon Snow that would explore what he did after going beyond the Wall in the series finale. Kit Harington would return to star. Later, George R.R. Martin came forward and let us know that Harington himself came up with the idea and pitched it to HBO, even bringing along his own creative team. That means Harington is invested, which gives us confidence.

Like most of the shows on this list, there’s no guarantee that this series will actually make it to air, but the fact that HBO is even considering it is pretty huge. Up until now, every spinoff it’s developed has been a prequel; HBO wasn’t gonna touch Jon or Arya or Tyrion or any of the surviving characters. Now, all bets are off.

We don’t know what a Jon Snow sequel series would look like, and Harington is being careful not to reveal anything beyond what’s already leaked. Would it be an intimate character study about him adjusting to his new life in the far North? Or would other characters get brought in the point where it essentially became Game of Thrones season 9? There are a ton of ways this could go, which includes a ton of ways it could go wrong.

…but it might not; it might be wonderful. It might be the follow-up the Game of Thrones fandom deserves, but right now it’s too early to tell. We’ll keep a close eye on this one. And again, the fact that it came organically from Harington himself is encouraging.

Hype Level: Deeply intrigued

This could be a thrilling adventure into the unknown, or it could be way too much of a good thing. – Dan

Aegon the Conqueror

It’s been reported that not only has HBO “actively discussed” the possibility of making a series about Aegon the Conqueror — the first king of Westeros and the man after whom many future Aegons will be named — it's even hired a writer: Mattson Tomlin, who did work on The Batman and is currently working on the sequel. So this one's moving forward, although it's not guaranteed to make it to air.

George R.R. Martin talks a lot about Aegon in the pages of Fire & Blood, the same book that forms the basis of House of the Dragon. After the success of that show, perhaps HBO wants to go back to the well. Aegon does have a good story. Alongside his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys, he invaded Westeros some 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, aiming to unite the seven squabbling kingdoms into one. Since he and sisters had dragons and their opponents none, he did this without much difficulty. At the end of the war, he built the Iron Throne, which would make one hell of a scene.

On House of the Dragon, we learned that Aegon was inspired to invade Westeros in part because of visions he had of a great darkness that would one day come out of the North; only if the Seven Kingdoms were united could they stand against it. An Aegon show could incorporate that element as well.

This show could be great, although I don’t like the idea of HBO spreading itself too thin with multiple Game of Thrones projects at once. Maybe it could air after House of the Dragon wraps up? It could even keep the same title.

Hype Level: Cautiously curious

A show about Aegon the Conqueror has all the potential in the world, but HBO will have to be careful about where it places its focus if it wants to keep interest in the overall franchise high.

The Golden Empire

HBO is also developing a couple animated series. One is titled The Golden Empire and set in Yi Ti, a faraway nation on Essos. The main ASOIAF books do not tell us much about Yi Ti, but we know from The World of Ice and Fire that it was the seat of the quasi-mythical Great Empire of the Dawn and subsequent Golden Empire. Its region is vaguely based on ancient China.

Whether the series would focus on the Empire era or following periods is not known. Any showrunner would basically have free rein to write anything they wanted about Yi Ti, since canonical details are so scarce. I for one would love a show on the Amethyst Empress, who ruled not long before the Long Night, which allegedly came about after her younger brother killed her, usurped the throne and practiced black magic.

As for the other animated series, we just know that it exists. In general, some fans love the idea of animated spinoffs with a burning passion, and some dread it because they think it would be tonally wrong.

I think it’s important to remember not all animated series are meant to be for kids — indeed, the animated Game of Thrones shows have been said to be “similar in tone” to the original series — and an animated show could certainly do many things that a live-action series would find much more difficult. I’m thinking in particular of anything having to do with dragons. Imagine if we got an animated show about the Doom of Valyria! Or even the Conquest of Westeros by Visenya, Ageon and Rhaenys. Tell us more!

Hype Level: Low for now

We need more information to truly be excited.

Play about the Tourney at Harrenhal

Shifting mediums, a Game of Thrones play is coming to Broadway! The play will center around the tourney at Harrenhal that served as the catalyst for Robert’s Rebellion, where Rhaegar Targaryen crowned Lyanna Stark the queen of love and beauty, infuriating Lyanna’s intended Robert Baratheon, embarrassing his own wife Elia Martell, and shocking all in attendance. It will be produced by Simon Painter and Tim Lawson, in partnership with Kilburn Live, based on a story by Martin, who is working alongside writer Duncan MacMillan and director Dominic Cooke. The play will hopefully debut on Broadway, at the West End, and in Australia in 2023.

At first, someone got their wires crossed and reported that this project was actually a prequel TV series about Robert’s Rebellion, but that was never a thing: this play was all that was ever in development on that score.

The Tourney at Harrenhal is a crucial point in the history of Westeros, and the play will be set less than two decades before Game of Thrones. Fan sentiment is torn on this: on the one hand, we would finally get the official version of the Tourney. In Game of Thrones as well as in the books, we only have the “official” account of these events as told by the winning side, which is basically pro-Baratheon/Lannister propaganda. This play, telling the story as it really happened, is all we’ve all been waiting for, and yet don’t want.

George R.R. Martin himself has said multiple times that he would never write an account of the events in Robert’s Rebellion, and fans respected that decision. We may write and read fan-fiction about it, but perhaps that is why Harrenhal is one of the most beloved events in ASOIAF lore: because we have to make our own canon.

We like that certain things may remain a mystery, not only Jon Snow’s parentage — which, while still debated in fandom, was pretty much confirmed by Game of Thrones — but many other plot lines, secrets and loose ends. Was Rhaegar Targaryen truly planning a council/coup to dethrone his father, King Aerys? Was Lyanna the Knight of the Laughing Tree and is that how Rhaegar met her? Does Howland Reed know everything? Does Benjen Stark? Did Elia Martell encourage her husband to pursue Lyanna? Whatever happened to Ashara Dayne that night at Harrenhal?

It seems that Martin has let go of his reticence to write about this particular part of his story, and if the plot and words are coming from his willing pen, we can hope for the best. After all, the Tourney at Harrenhal does lend itself quite well to a stage production. It’s one event happening in one location with lots of characters having lots of interesting conversations.

We know for sure that the play will not be a musical. Although I am personally a great fan of musicals, this is good news even to me, because the only musical moments that truly deserve to happen are those of Rhaegar singing and playing his famed silver harp. I think we can all do without a young and cocky Robert Baratheon breaking into song and dance about his supposed love for Lyanna as he jumps into bed with anything that moves.

Regardless, I hope Martin will find it in him to reveal that Elia Martell and Lyanna Stark were allies from the start, not the rivals the realm painted them to be, and that Rhaegar did everything he did at the tourney and after with his wife’s full approval.

I am so excited to see these ladies portrayed properly, as well as young Brandon Stark, Oberyn Martell, Jon Connington, and so many more.

Hype Level: High, but on thin ice

One wrong move and the entire story is ruined forever. Yes, I’m looking at you, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Blood Moon

Finally, there are a couple of Game of Thrones spinoffs that HBO was working on but dropped for whatever reason. We already mentioned Blood Moon at the start of this article. It would have been set during the Age of Heroes, long before events of Game of Thrones, and told the story of the Long Night, when the White Walkers invaded Westeros for the first time.

This show had a confirmed cast and even shot a pilot in 2019. George R.R. Martin helped develop the episode with showrunner Jane Goldman. The stellar cast included Naomi Watts, Miranda Richardson, Josh Whitehouse, Naomi Ackie, Denise Gough, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sheila Atim, Ivanno Jeremiah, Georgie Henley, Alex Sharp and Toby Regbo.

I guess the HBO executives didn’t like it, or thought a show mainly about the Starks and the Children of the Forest wouldn’t sell… certainly not as much as one about Targaryens.

Flea Bottom

Nothing much was known about this series: not when it would’ve been set, who it would’ve focused on… all we know is that Flea Bottom is the poorest part of King’s Landing — characters like Gendry and Davos Seaworth grew up there. I’m sure the concept was great, but we never had enough information to really be hyped about it.

10,000 Ships

At one point, HBO was working on a ship about Princess Nymeria of the Rhoyne, who led her people out of Essos and settled in far-away Westeros, in Dorne. Nymeria is a powerful figure and could have made for a great lead character, but we’ve heard that HBO has decided to scrap the project, for whatever reason.

9 Voyages / Sea Snake

When we heard that HBO was shelving Nymeria’s show, we also heard they were setting aside one about Corlys Velaryon, aka the Sea Snake. Corlys appears in House of the Dragon as an older man; this show would have explored his younger years, when he sailed around the world collecting exotic goods to sell back in Westeros and making his house extraordinarily rich.

What do you think about these spinoffs? Which are you most excited for? Which are you most dreading? Let us know in the comments!

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