HBO recently shared a glimpse into the future, and it's looking bright for its Game of Thrones prequels—House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
For the next three years, through 2028, HBO is going to release at least one season of its Game of Thrones shows each year. But first, and probably even better for fans, we have two new seasons of those shows coming in 2026.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which is based on George R.R. Martin'sTales of Dunk and Egg, premieres on Sunday, Jan. 18, on HBO and HBO Max. Then, we'll see House of the Dragon season 3 premiere in June 2026, most likely, although HBO has not announced the premiere date yet.
Following those two seasons, we'll see A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 sometime in 2027, followed by House of the Dragon season 4 in 2028. HBO just officially ordered those seasons last month.
That's all HBO has revealed to the public so far, but there are some signs that, even after 2028, we won't have to wait too long for more Game of Thrones prequels, and possibly even sequels.
HBO draws attention to annual TV releases
I love that HBO is pushing this schedule right now. There's clearly an appetite for shorter gaps between shows and seasons among fans. It's not just a lack of attention span or being spoiled, either. The gaps for TV shows has gotten notably longer recently. It's incredible to remember that HBO released a new season of Game of Thrones every single year for its first seven seasons. Then, it took a two-year gap for the final season.
In the same amount of time that it took HBO to make seven seasons of Game of Thrones, we'd seen two seasons of Stranger Things up until the Stranger Things 5 Vol. 1 premiere on Wednesday, Nov. 26. And, that's not to shade Netflix or Stranger Things. It's simply the truth.
Over the last few years, there have been industry shifts, a strike, and a pandemic that caused massive delays. Those things were completely out of HBO's control, for the most part. Making sure fans know that you are committed to yearly releases is huge. HBO has clearly taken note of what fans want.
HBO CEO Casey Bloys was speaking about The Pitt recently and talked about the annual release shifting his thinking. Here's his full quote on the subject, via Deadline:
"That’s one of the reasons I was so thrilled that The Pitt worked and that it’s coming back; the annual return is really, really important. I think as an industry, we’ve gotten away from that, and my hope is for something like The Pitt, we aired it in January [2025], it’s coming back in January [2026]. That kind of habitual viewing, not only week to week, but on an annual basis, is really important in terms of setting habits. I was thrilled not only that it worked, that it won the Emmy on top of that was just cherry on top.”
It's going to feel a lot like the early seasons of Game of Thrones if HBO can pull off this release strategy. While it's impossible at this point to see a new season of House of the Dragon every year because of just how much work goes into a show like that, you can see HBO remedying the situation by giving fans at least one show set in Westeros every year. I have no doubt that the plan will be to continue that beyond 2028, as well.
We also recently learned, via Bloys, that House of the Dragon season 4 might not actually be the end of the series after all, according to Deadline. Ryan Condal, the showrunner, and the team are still working on season 4, and there's a chance that the story could stretch into another season. HBO hasn't renewed the series for season 5 or anything like that, but even the fact that they are considering season 4 might not be the end, after everything we've heard, is promising for fans.
There are more Game of Thrones shows in the works
Beyond that, Martin recently revealed that there are a number of Game of Thrones prequels, sequels, and spinoffs in the works right now, as well.
Here's what Martin said at Iceland Noir last month, via Los Siete Reinos:
"Aside from A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and House of the Dragon, there are other Game of Thrones spinoff projects in development. Most are prequels. There are several in development, five or six series; and I'm not developing them alone, I'm working with other people. Yes, there are some sequels."
None of those projects have been officially ordered yet, but it's just a matter of time, in my opinion. House of the Dragon is too big, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is going to be too big, for HBO to simply bail on Westeros. There are more stories to be told, and fans want to see those stories play out on screen.
Looking at the upcoming schedule, HBO has things covered until 2029, but I have a feeling there will be another Game of Thrones spinoff, prequel, or sequel ready to be rolled out that year. It's useless speculating what it could be, but if it's going to be released in the year after House of the Dragon season 4, we should see things start happening soon. Maybe, HBO will shoot a pilot or order a show straight to series? We'll just have to wait to find out.
And, that makes it super exciting for Game of Thrones fans. We're heading into a six-month stretch with two new shows, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and House of the Dragon season 3, on the way On top of that, more Game of Thrones shows are in the works? Everything is awesome. In fact, it's almost too good to be true. All we need next is The Winds of Winter.
We'll share more news about the upcoming shows as we find out. Stay tuned!