More than three years after Game of Thrones came to a divisive end, HBO is finally returning to the land of Westeros with House of the Dragon, a Targaryen-centric prequel series debuting on August 21. Fans weren’t meant to wait this long for a Game of Thrones spinoff — or “successor show,” as author George R. R. Martin prefers to call it — but HBO hasn’t had the easiest time turning its smash hit into a franchise.
Case in point: The pilot for another prequel series, the Naomi Watts-led project detailed below, cost $30 million to film, according to the James Andrew Miller book Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers (via Entertainment Weekly).
Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO has seven Game of Thrones spinoffs in development, the most exciting of which is a Jon Snow sequel series that reportedly has Kit Harington ready to return to his most famous role.
Naomi Watts-led prequel series: Not moving forward
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In November 2019, HBO confirmed that it had passed on an untitled prequel series, codenamed Bloodmoon, from writer Jane Goldman (Rebecca). Also starring Miranda Richardson (Good Omens), Josh Whitehouse (Poldark), and Marquis Rodriguez (Modern Love), the series would have covered the Age of Heroes, a time thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, including man’s first battle with the White Walkers.
Casey Bloys, then HBO’s president of programming, told Deadline the following January that the project “did not quite gel.”
“That’s one of the reasons when we started out to think about ‘Is there a life after Game of Thrones in terms of Game of Thrones,’ we purposefully developed multiple projects,” he added. “We would have been very lucky to do one pilot [and] have that pilot go and be a success. But in development, as you know, it takes a lot of tries to get it right. This is no different.”
Dunk and Egg: In development
Reportedly still on the drawing board since at least January 2021, Dunk and Egg — based on Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg series of novellas — would follow Dunk, a.k.a. future Kingsguard Lord Commander Ser Duncan the Tall, and his squire Egg, a.k.a. the future king Aegon V Targaryen and great-grandfather of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), in their exploits nearly a century before the events of Game of Thrones. Screenwriter Steve Conrad (Patriot) joined the project in November, according to Deadline.
Flea Bottom: Not moving forward
In March 2021, Deadline reported that three spinoffs were in development under the working titles Flea Bottom, 10,000 Ships, and 9 Voyages. But development on Flea Bottom had ended by that July, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with the mag adding that it was “always the most nascent of the ideas that were made public.” As Game of Thrones fans know, Flea Bottom is the King’s Landing slum where Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) and Gendry (Joe Dempsie) grew up.
10,000 Ships a.k.a. Nymeria: In development
This series, meanwhile, is reportedly still in the works, set to center on Princess Nymeria, who brought the surviving Rhoynar people to Dorne. Amanda Segel, a TV writer who worked on The Mist, Shooter, Helstrom, and other shows, is penning the script, Variety reports.
Pedro Pascal, in character as Oberyn Martell, told Nymeria’s story in the Histories & Lore special feature on Game of Thrones Season 4 DVD set: “Thousands of years ago, the warrior queen Nymeria crossed into Dorne from Essos, fleeing the dragonlords of Valyria. After she landed, she burned her ships, all 10,000 of them, so no cowards could slink home.”
The Sea Snake a.k.a. 9 Voyages: In development
Ollie Upton/HBO
The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller is reportedly spearheading this project, which would chronicle the legendary seafaring of Corlys Velaryon, Lord of Driftmark and head of House Velaryon.
Steve Toussaint (Before We Die), seen here, is playing the character in House of the Dragon. “As ‘The Sea Snake,’ the most famed nautical adventurer in the history of Westeros, Lord Corlys built his house into a powerful seat that is even richer than the Lannisters and that claims the largest navy in the world,” HBO says in a character bio.
The Golden Empire and two other animated series: In development
According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO is working on three animated Game of Thrones spinoffs, including The Golden Empire, which would be set in the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, an Essos kingdom inspired by Imperial China.
“Our working title is The Golden Empire, and we have a great young writer on that one too,” Martin blogged this March. “And I think the art and animation is just going to be beautiful. I would tell you more if I could.”
Snow: In development
HBO
Not only does The Hollywood Reporter claim Harington is attached to this still-unconfirmed sequel series, in which he’d reprise his role as the onetime King in the North, but it also speculates other surviving Game of Thrones characters could return in the show, with the working title of Snow, as well, including Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), and Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie).
House of the Dragon: Premiering in August
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8YhSf3JRUU
Set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, this prequel series tells the story of House Targaryen long before Daenerys came along, with Emma D’Arcy (Truth Seekers) playing Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Matt Smith (Doctor Who) playing Prince Daemon Targaryen, and Paddy Considine (The Third Day) as King Viserys Targaryen. Martin created the series with screenwriter Ryan Condal (Colony), the latter of whom serves as showrunner alongside Emmy-winning Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik.
House of the Dragon, Series Premiere, Sunday, August 21, HBO and HBO Max
