Despite the less-than-stellar conclusion of HBO’s flagship fantasy series Game of Thrones in 2019, fans still seem to have a hearty desire to return to the world of Westeros on the small screen. In 2022, the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon drew in a whopping 9.99 million viewers, making it the most-watched premiere of any HBO original series to date.
Not only did it bring in the eyeballs, but it also confirmed there is still room for more gripping, impeccably written stories to be told in George R.R. Martin’s sprawling fictional world. The ongoing WGA writers’ strike has put the freeze on much of HBO’s original series production, but once the studios come to their senses, it will be full speed ahead on expanding this fictional universe.
With a second season of House of the Dragon in production and a flurry of rumors surrounding potential Westerosi spin-offs, we wanted to take some time to break down each of these potential series to determine what HBO’s Game of Thrones universe might offer next. From Targaryen turmoil to Jon Snow’s return, let’s dive deep into these rumored series to find out which areas of Westeros fans can expect to see in the coming years.
House of the Dragon (Season Two)
It didn’t take long for HBO to greenlight a second season of this wildly popular prequel series. Season one’s finale left fans heartbroken, shocked, and begging for more as they watched Aemond Targaryen’s (Ewan Mitchell) dragon Vhagar devour his nephew Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) and his adolescent dragon Arrax. As satisfying and action-packed as House of the Dragon’s first season was, it was simply table setting for what book readers know the following seasons will bring.
After Lucerys’ murder at the hands of Aemond and Vhagar, the embittered Black Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) will stop at nothing to avenge her son, leading to the bloody Targaryen civil war known as The Dance of Dragons. Readers of George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood might have a leg up on show watchers in terms of broad plot points, but if season one’s loose adaptation style is any indicator, the future of this series is still largely unwritten.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight
Unlike many of the potential series we’ll cover in this piece, this offering has the happy distinction of being confirmed and greenlit by the HBO bigwigs. Based on George R.R. Martin’s prequel novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg, this adaptation takes place 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones. The Hedge Knight, the first installment in the novella series, centers around a knight named Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk, for short) and a young squire named Egg.
It won’t take long for viewers to ascertain that Egg’s identity might be a bit more complicated than he initially indicated. Compared to the denser and darker A Song of Ice and Fire series from which Game of Thrones was adapted, Tales of Dunk and Egg possesses a decidedly lighter, almost folkloric tone. Still, fans looking to quench that thirst for medieval sword clashing shouldn’t get too concerned about the lighter subject matter – we’ll still be in Westeros, after all.
Untitled Jon Snow sequel
Of all the rumored productions swirling around the Game of Thrones fan community these days, none seems to get fans more excited than the Jon Snow sequel, and it’s not hard to understand why. For starters, Jon Snow is one of the most beloved characters from the original series, and most fans would love the opportunity to spend more time with him. But perhaps more importantly, fans see this potential spin-off as a way HBO can right some of the wrongs made by the universally-panned final season of Game of Thrones.
Despite its early seasons of widespread acclaim, it’s virtually become incontrovertible television doctrine that Game of Thrones failed to stick the landing. By giving us some insight into where Thrones’ most honorable would-be monarch ended up after marching north of the Wall, maybe HBO can hope to sweeten the bad taste left in fans’ mouths back in 2019. Not to mention, a Snow sequel could allow us to check in with other fan favorites left alive like Tyrion, Arya, and King Bran.
10,000 Ships (working title)
If you have ever wondered about the story behind the namesake of Arya’s wild direwolf Nymeria, this should be the ideal Game of Thrones spin-off for you. While many of the prospective series we’re breaking down in this article take place before the events of Thrones, none take place quite as long ago as this one. Set 1,000 years before Jon Snow took the black, this series begins with the Rhonish Queen Nymeria in Essos.
As her people deal with an onslaught of dragonfire from the Old Valyrians, Nymeria hatches an immense escape plan to charter her people on 10,000 ships to find a new home in Westeros. They come to settle what Game of Thrones fans will eventually know as the land of Dorne. This option might have the least connective tissue to the original series, but the synopsis promises action and dramatic tension in spades. We couldn’t be more hyped.
Sea Snake or Nine Voyages (potential working titles)
Fans of the sea-bound Corlys Velayron from House of the Dragon should be over the moon about this potential spin-off. Before Corlys was the elder statesman and Westerosi power broker we’ve come to know in House of the Dragon, he was out exploring on the high seas and earning his namesake as the Sea Snake. While there aren’t many concrete details to glean from this series in the way of plot synopsis, we can assure fans about a few essentials.
Any show involving Corlys Velaryon’s younger years will take us further into the unknown reaches of George R.R. Martin’s vast fictional world than any adaptation prior. We could finally feast our eyes upon the strange and mystical lands of east Essos, such as Melisandre’s homeland of Asshai. Whatever HBO has planned for the Sea Snake series, you can bet it’ll be chock full of adventure, intrigue, and gorgeous settings.
Untitled Aegon the Conqueror series
We’ll finish our breakdown with the most recent addition to this ever-changing list of planned spin-offs: the Aegon the Conqueror series. In April of this year, rumors of HBO starting serious discussions about a potential series based around the infamous Targaryen conqueror hit a fever pitch. There haven’t been any solid confirmations as of yet, but whispers were more than enough to set the fan community ablaze with speculation. Game of Thrones fans should have a cursory knowledge of Aegon’s conquest, as it is the foundation from which all events in that series transpired.
About 300 years before the events of the original series, Aegon and his two sister wives flew to Westeros atop their legendary dragons, making quick work of uniting the continent under a new Targaryen dynasty. Aegon’s story is well-known among fans and characters, but it would be interesting to see how an adaptation could peel back the layers of legend to reveal the people behind some of the most game-changing events in Westeros’ history.
