Game of Thrones, based on the Song of Ice and Fire books by author George R.R. Martin, was a sprawling fantasy drama that dealt with a wide variety of families in the Seven Kingdoms, from the Starks the Lannisters to the Targaryens living in exile. The prequel series House of the Dragon is drilling down on the Targaryen family, who ruled Westeros for centuries before they were deposed.
It's no secret that HBO has developed other Game of Thrones spinoff ideas on and off since before the original show even wrapped up in 2019. House of the Dragon is the only one to actually make it to screen so far, but a new prequel called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will air later this year. This one is much smaller in scale than either of its predecessors; it follows a knight and his squire as they travel around Westeros at a time in history where dragons are extinct. House of the Dragon, with its dragons and huge battles, remains the marquee follow-up to Game of Thrones.
But House of the Dragon will end after its fourth season. What comes after that? HBO executive Francesca Orsi hinted at a possibility while speaking with Deadline. “We have other spinoffs that we’re working on right now, one of which — which I won’t get into — is very promising, and it is still the Targaryen line,” she said. “There’s a number of other spinoffs, we can’t really guarantee what’s going to go forward, but we are very big budget on the other ones."
It's important to underline that none of the other spinoffs Orsi is talking about are guaranteed to make it to screen at all, although I'm betting that the Targaryen-focused idea she's hinting at will. In fact, we've already heard a lot about it: unless Orsi is hiding something big, she's referring to a show about Aegon Targaryen's conquest of Westeros, which happened around 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones and 150 years before House of the Dragon. It's a foundational story in Martin's mythology, and worth telling onscreen.
Screenwriter Mattson Tomlin, who worked on The Batman movie as well as the Netflix show Terminator Zero, has been developing the Aegon's Conquest prequel for some time, working with Martin on the best way to tell the story. I think this show will eventually get made and air after House of the Dragon has concluded its run, and I think Orsi agrees with me.
For now, Game of Thrones fans have the first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to look forward to later this year (Orsi is looking at a three-season plan for that show), and then the third season of House of the Dragon in 2026.
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