‘House of the Dragon’
House of the Dragon is currently filming in the U.K., and is expected to premiere sometime in 2022. Its showrunner is writer Ryan Condal, and it has cast Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen. Other cast members include Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Rhys Ifans and Sonoya Mizuno.
House of the Dragon is based on Martin’s latest book, Fire and Blood, which is a fictional history of the Targaryen dynasty in Westeros. The book covers about 120 years’ worth of history in the Seven Kingdoms, but the show will be focused on a period about 180 years before the events of Game of Thrones. At this time, there is a civil war within House Targaryen called The Dance of the Dragons.
This subject makes perfect sense for HBO, as it will be even more action-heavy than the original series. The Dance of the Dragons pitted a dozen dragons and even more riders against each other in an all-out war. This series may serve as the lynchpin around which other, more experimental series can orbit.
‘9 Voyages’
The next most-developed project is a series about Corlys “The Sea Snake” Velaryon, tentatively titled 9 Voyages, according to a report by Deadline. The Sea Snake will be an old man in House of the Dragon, but Martin has documented his whole life in Fire and Blood and The World of Ice and Fire. He is an enigmatic figure who sailed all over the world in his life on his “nine great voyages.”
This series is reportedly in development by writer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist, Rome and Gotham) and a small creative team, but few details are available so far. However, fans are hopeful that The Sea Snake’s travels will allow Martin and the show’s creators to further expand this fictional world beyond Westeros’ shores, and perhaps make some revelations about the far-flung lands where legends like Azor Ahai come from.
‘10,000 Ships’
10,000 Ships is the working title for a prequel going even further back in Westerosi history to the mass immigration of the Rhoynar to Dorne. In Martin’s history, The Rhoyne is a massive river in the eastern continent of Essos, which was home to a powerful civilization called the Rhoynar. However, when the Valyrian Freehold began to encroach on their land, Queen Nymeria ordered all of her people onto all 10,000 of her ships, and led them on a mass exodus to look for a new home.
It is unclear when exactly this legendary migration happened, but we do know that the Doom of Valyria happened about 500 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Regardless, this series might shed light on the legends of Rhoynish water magic, and the mysterious Dornish culture in the southern desert of Westeros. So far, this series remains a rumor reported by Deadline, with no cast, writers or other creators besides Martin attached.
‘Dunk and Egg’
Aside from A Song of Ice and Fire itself, the best-known story set in Westeros is likely Martin’s novella series The Tales of Dunk & Egg. These short, one-perspective books follow the humble hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall and the disguised Targaryen teenager Aegon V — who goes by “Egg” — as they travel the country doing chivalrous deeds. These stories are set about 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
Martin has published three novellas in this series, which have been collected into one volume called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Sources at HBO first told Variety that an adaptation of this series was in early development, though fans have their doubts. Mostly because in a 2017 blog post, Martin said that he wanted to write more Dunk & Egg novellas and that he did not want the series adapted until it was finished due to the controversy surrounding Game of Thrones.
Moreover, many fans expect the story of Dunk & Egg to connect to and seriously impact the events of A Song of Ice and Fire. That’s because the novellas are leading towards a mystery that Martin is protective of — the “Tragedy at Summerhall.” They may also provide more details on the mysterious figure Bloodraven, who goes from a political player in King’s Landing to the half-dead Greenseer that teaches Bran Stark to use his powers beyond The Wall in the main series. If the Dunk & Egg adaption is really in the works, Martin has not confirmed it yet.
‘Flea Bottom’
Deadline also first reported rumors of a drama series set in Flea Bottom — the slums of King’s Landing, Westeros’ capital city. There is no word on what time period this show would be set in, which characters it might follow or which stories it might draw on from Martin’s writings. However, fans are very familiar with the neighborhood from the main series, since Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) and Gendry (Joe Dempsie) are from there, while Arya (Maisie Williams) hides out there after her father is killed.
It’s worth noting that this series might be easy to transition to from House of the Dragon, since Daemon Targaryen will be a main character there. In Martin’s writings, Daemon is nicknamed “the Prince of the City,” with all kinds of unsavory connections in the brothels and bars of Flea Bottom. HBO’s Casey Bloys told Deadline: “one of the great things about House of the Dragon is that’s an established history that leads you to Game of Thrones the show, and there is a lot of little branches. There is a lot of opportunities and stories to tell.” However, no details have been officially confirmed.
Animated Options
Finally, The Hollywood Reporter caught wind of an animated drama set in Westeros being developed specifically for HBO Max. This show has reportedly begun meetings with writers to develop it further, but so far no details about the plot or contents have been released.
When reporting on Martin’s overall deal last week, THR speculated that the animated series could have an anthology-style, since animation would allow the series to cover decades or even centuries’ worth of Martin’s fictional history in just a few episodes. Interestingly, writers Elio M. García and Linda Antonsson endorsed this idea. They co-wrote The World of Ice and Fire with Martin — an encyclopedia-style book about the world of Westeros.
“We would certainly think a World of Ice and Fire animated series would be pretty neat as an anthology show!” they wrote on their fan site, Westeros.org.
Scrapped Projects
While those are all the Game of Thrones spin-offs in the works right now, fans may never get over the loss of the original slate of successors — particularly Bloodmoon. The first spinoff ordered to pilot, Bloodmoon was meant to take place 10,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones in the “Age of Heroes.” Many expected it to explain the origins of the White Walkers, the construction of The Wall and other, more nuanced parts of Martin’s magical world.
Bloodmoon filmed an expensive pilot with showrunner Jane Goldman and star Naomi Watts. The fact that it wasn’t ordered to series from there left many fans heartbroken, and some hold out hope that it could be picked back up to this day. So far, HBO has made no remarks indicating that it will be.
Game of Thrones is streaming now on HBO Max. House of the Dragon is filming now and is expected to premiere in 2022. As for the other ideas listed above, fans will just have to keep their fingers crossed.
