We're a bit over a week out from the finale of House of the Dragon season 3, and the dust is still slowly settling over Westeros as we begin our long wait for the next Game of Thrones project coming down the pike. That would be A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which just wrapped filming on its second season and is set to return sometime in early 2027. But there are always more Game of Thrones spinoffs in the works.
Considering that House of the Dragon is set to end with its fourth season, it's good to know that we won't be left without more Westeros on screen once the series comes to an end. But one person who won't be at the helm for whatever happens next is Ryan Condal, the co-creator and showrunner of House of the Dragon. Condal confirmed back in June that he would be stepping away from the Seven Kingdoms after the show's conclusion, but has that attitude changed at all given the success of season 3?
To hear Condal tell it, no. He reiterated to Collider this week in an interview that he's done with "dragons and Targaryens and thrones" once the credits roll on House of the Dragon season 4 — though he does have some thoughts about what other spinoff he'd like to see make it to the screen next, with or without his involvement.
"I have really said all I have to or need to say about dragons and Targaryens and thrones, but I think the most interesting story left on the table is the story of the end of the Targaryen dynasty. But the one told from the point of view of the Targaryens themselves," Condal said.
Asked to clarify what he meant by the "end of the Targaryen dynasty," Condal said, "Yes, I meant the accepted formal end of the dynasty with the death of Aerys II (The Mad King)."
Will HBO ever make a series about Robert's Rebellion?
The period of time Condal is referring to is what's known as Robert's Rebellion in the lore, where Robert Baratheon, Ned Stark, and their allies overthrew the Mad King Aerys II, ending 300 years of Targaryen rule over Westeros and setting the stage for the events of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Condal is certainly right that it would be an intriguing time period to explore...which is exactly why it is currently being explored in the brand new stage play, Game of Thrones: The Mad King, running right now in Stratford-upon-Avon from the Royal Shakespeare Company. That play even centers the Targaryen perspective just like Condal mentions, with characters like Aerys, his wife Rhaella, and his son Rhaegar all playing prominent roles.
The play is being very well received, so clearly this is a tale that's resonating deeply with fans. However, barring a recording of the play itself, I doubt we'll ever see HBO commit to a small screen version of this story, so Condal's hope is probably in vain. George R.R. Martin himself dismissed the idea all the way back in 2017, when he wrote on his blog that fans would know "every important thing that happened in Robert's Rebellion" when he finished writing his books, so there was little point in a whole other series about it.
"There would be no surprises or revelations left in such a show, just the acting out of conflicts whose resolutions you already know. That's not a story I want to tell just now; it would feel too much like a twice-told tale," he wrote.
Obviously, we're now seeing some of those events play out in The Mad King, so it's entirely possible that Martin's thoughts may have changed over the past nine years — after all, he still hasn't finished those books he mentioned, which means we still haven't gotten the answers he figured we'd have by now. Then again, a stage play is a very different beast than a television show, and it's possible this different medium afforded Martin and the play's creative team the opportunity to explore these events in a way that felt more worthwhile than simply rehashing it in a TV show.
However you slice it, Game of Thrones: The Mad King is the best and only way to get a first-hand idea of what happened during Robert's Rebellion for the time being, and I don't see that changing anytime too soon. As for Game of Thrones on screen, we have more House of the Dragon, more A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and an Aegon's Conquest movie ahead. Whatever happens after that, it'll happen without Ryan Condal.
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