Have you heard about that new Game of Thrones spinoff HBO is developing? No, not that one. Not that one, either. They already stopped working on that. And that other one is now going to be an animated series. I think.
HBO’s time in Westeros didn’t end when Bran Stark claimed the Iron Throne. The network has been working on other potential shows set in George R.R. Martin’s world of A Song of Ice and Fire since before the original series even ended. House of the Dragon was the first to make it to air, but it won’t be the last. Many more are still in development. Some, though, as Martin says, are already on the proverbial “shelf.” (He should know. He also says he is “deeply, heavily involved” in every potential show.) Which ideas are still alive and which are dead… for now? Here’s every Game of Thrones spinoff we’ve learned about over the years and their current status.
Latest Developments in the World of Game of Thrones Spinoffs
A Braavos Set Game of Thrones Spinoff Was Shelved
George R.R. Martin recently revealed in a blog post that a Game of Thrones spinoff set in Braavos was shelved by HBO. He notes, “One of these days I need to write that story about Braavos we were developing for HBO. They shelved that one a couple of years back, alas, but that does not mean I won’t go back to it… After Winds of Winter is done, of course. Maybe then I will have enough free time to visit Amsterdam again.”
Braavos, of course, houses Game of Throne‘s Iron Bank and features the Faceless Men, a creepy group of assassin-priests that can shapeshift and cause a lot of trouble. Notably, Arya Stark, was briefly a member. We’re curious to know what kind of tale G.R.R. Martin might spin in this location.
On-Air Game of Thrones Spinoffs
House of the Dragon
HBO’s first Game of Thrones spinoff, a prequel about the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, returned for its second season in summer 2024. However, season one co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik will not be back. He left the series in 2022. Ryan Condal now fulfills the role on his own.
Carly Wray and Bryan Cogman (who wrote a pilot) both worked on a Dance of the Dragons series, but HBO did not move forward with either of their concepts.
Read More: Everything We Know About House of the Dragon Season 2
Game of Thrones Spinoffs That Are Coming Soon
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight (Dunk & Egg)
George R.R. Martin’s three Dunk & Egg novellas tell the story of Ser Duncan the Tall and his young squire. That squire was really a Targaryen Prince named Aegon who traveled with Dunk in disguise. (He also unexpectedly went on to become King years later.) The beloved duo is now set to star in HBO’s second spinoff. HBO ordered the prequel to series to air in April 2023. Martin and Ira Parker will write and executive produce the show. (Patriot‘s Steve Conrad was originally tapped to write the show in 2021.) Ryan Condal and Vince Gerardis will join as executive producers. The series has its Dunk and Egg, but it no official release date. It began filming in spring 2024. A 2025 premiere seems very possible. It also has an official logline:
A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.
Read More: 5 Reasons Why We’re Excited For The Game Of Thrones Dunk And Egg Spinoff Series
Game of Thrones Spinoffs That Are In Development
The Golden Empire
Development continues on a potential adult animated series about Essos’ far eastern Yi Ti dynasty. Martin once wrote Yi Ti is the fantasy analogue of Imperial China the way Westeros is the fantasy analogue of the medieval British Isles. The World of Ice and Fire compendium book (which Martin jokingly calls The GRRMarillion in reference to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion) expanded on the little we know about that powerful, large nation. That also includes some tantalizing tales, one that connects the ancient, advanced Yi Ti to the first Long Night.
It’s unknown who is leading the show’s development or what it would be about. But a possible series would be so far removed from Westeros and Martin’s main story that it would have incredible freedom to tell any story from any time period.
The Sea Snake/Nine Voyages
After initially being developed as a live-action series, George R.R. Martin announced a prequel about the adventures of young Corlys Velaryon is now being considered as a potential adult animated spinoff. The show also initially operated under the title Nine Voyages (which Martin still uses sometimes). That was in reference to the nine famous trips Corlys Velaryon made around the world on his ship The Sea Snake. He travelled to far off places all over the globe in the decades prior to the Dance of the Dragons. His accomplishments made him Westeros’s most famous and celebrated sailor ever. He is also a major figure on House of the Dragon, where Steve Toussaint plays an older Sea Snake.
In March 2022 Martin confirmed reports Rome showrunner Bruno Heller would write the show’s pilot. More recently the author also explained at his “Not a Blog” blog why he “fully” supports the show’s change from live-action to animation:
Budgetary constraints would likely have made a live action version prohibitively expensive, what with half the show taking place at sea, and the necessity of creating a different port every week, from Driftmark to Lys to the Basilisk Isles to Volantis to Qarth to… well, on and on and on. There’s a whole world out there. And we have a lot better chance of showing it all with animation. So we now have three animated projects underway.
Aegon’s Conquest
In early 2023 Variety reported HBO was “actively” discussing a potential prequel about the legendary Targaryen lord who conquered Westeros. A series about Aegon’s Conquest (roughly 300 years before Game of Thrones) was also among the first batch of spinoff concepts considered by HBO in 2016. The original idea is said to have portrayed the famed King as a “drunken lout.” Rand Ravich and Far Shariat wrote that script.
The Hollywood Reporter now says HBO ” is actively heating up” discussions about the long-gestating concept. It also has a name attached to this new attempt. Mattson Tomlin, who is said to have done uncredited script work on The Batman and who is officially co-writing its sequel, is heading up this iteration of an Aegon’s Conquest spinoff. Tomlin is also behind the BRZRKR with Keanu Reeves and is serving as showrunner for Netflix’s animated Terminator series.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tomlin confirmed he’s working on the series, though that work has just begun. “That one is very early days where I’m currently writing the script, currently doing a lot of great back and forth with George (R.R. Martin),” said Tomlin. He also said Martin told him to treat the story as history that really happened. Doing that he said is akin to writing about great historical figures like Napoleon or Alexander the Great.
“We know where he was, we know who he conquered, we know who lived, and we know who died,” said Tomlin. “That all becomes the plot, and then it becomes my job to go, but what did it mean thematically? How did it feel? What were the emotions when this person died and this person lived? We don’t have the context. We don’t know what anybody said.”
While Tomlin and Martin will handle all of that, THR‘s initial report included one confusing clue about HBO’s idea for the series. A source said the show would mark a “back to basics” approach. Considering House of the Dragon is not that different from Game of Thrones in any meaningful way beyond being more focused, that could indicate previous attempts at an Aegon series tried something very different with its approach. That could explain why the network did not proceed with them. Or “back to basics” could mean this idea is more like a traditional drama with fewer characters and jumping around to various location than Game of Thrones.
The one thing we know for sure about any and all attempts at telling Aegon’s story is that they’ll involve dragons.
Spinoffs with an Unknown Status
Unknown Animated Series
Martin has long made reference to development of an unnamed adult animated series, one possibly meant to air on HBO Max. Nothing is known about the series. That includes whether a spinoff idea reported on previously is the mystery cartoon and no one has made the connection.
Shelved/Canceled Game of Thrones Spinoffs
Flea Bottom
One potential live-action prequel idea that seemingly never gained much traction was a series have focused on the denizens of King’s Landing’s infamous slum district Flea Bottom. HBO never even confirmed the show was in development. Reports say it did not make it very far in the process.
Untitled Valyrian Freehold Series
The initial batch of five spinoff ideas HBO pursued in 2016 (out of a list of at least 15) was a show about the destruction of the Valyrian Freehold. Valyria was the Roman Empire-like dynasty of dragon lords who ruled over Essos for thousands of years. House Targaryen avoided its ancestral home’s doom when it fled Valyria a century before its demise. Kong: Skull Island‘s Max Borenstein wrote a script for the show, but that seems to be as far as HBO got with it.
Valyria was home to thousands of dragons and ornate architecture. That would make for a bloated VFX budget. This idea is a great candidate for the mysterious animated show Martin continues to allude to.
Untitled Seven Gods of Westeros Show
A long lost concept that “didn’t get very far” at HBO would have seen the gods from the faith of The Seven team up like superheroes, leading to others worshiping them as deities. It’s easy to see why HBO didn’t have much faith in this idea.
Snow Is No Longer Happening
In a Narrow Sea worth of prequel ideas, the only potential sequel series that was confirmed to be under consideration at HBO is Snow. Kit Harington brought the idea to the network. He also brought it to George R.R. Martin, who confirmed the possible spinoff’s development. The author said he’d already met with Harington and his team about it, as well. The show would follow the former Lord Commander after he returned to life beyond The Wall in Game of Thrones‘ series finale.
Snow was “shelved” during the Hollywood strikes. Though the end of the strikes left the current status of the series unknown. In November 2023 HBO CEO and chairman Casey Bloys said, “I wouldn’t say there is anything else in that world that is close to a green light or anything, but we are always working on different scripts and ideas.” And that seemed to convey that the series wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
Most recently, we got a firmer answer about the fate of the Game of Thrones spinoff show. Kit Harington revealed the Jon Snow series was firmly “on the shelf” and no longer in active development. He shared, “In development, you look at every angle, and you see whether it’s worth it. And currently, it’s not. Currently, it’s off the table, because we all couldn’t find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough. So, we decided to lay down tools with it for the time being. There may be a time in the future where we return to it, but at the moment, no. It’s firmly on the shelf.”
Spinoffs Not Picked Up
Bloodmoon
House of the Dragon will forever be the first Game of Thrones spinoff to reach airwaves. However, HBO filmed another spinoff before it. The network spent (at least) $30 million to shoot a pilot for Bloodmoon, a prequel set thousands of years prior to the original series. Starring Naomi Watts, it took place during the Age of Heroes. That’s when legendary figures of the Realm helped establish its most famous houses. At least that’s what the stories say. That mythical era remains shrouded in secrecy.
The series, from showrunner Jane Goldman, also operated under the working title of The Long Night, as it would have covered the original White Walker invasion that plunged the world in darkness. While HBO has said it was a good pilot—and the network was clearly serious about it considering its financial investment—it ultimately passed. That decision shocked many.
Read More: History Of Thrones: The Long Night And Identifying Enemies And Heroes
The public has never seen Bloodmoon‘s lost episode. Not even George R.R. Martin. But it remains a fascinating idea with incredible potential. Just because HBO didn’t order it to air doesn’t mean it won’t some day. Martin always says “shelved” TV shows can always leave the shelf.
Especially in Westeros, where we all know the dead have a way of coming back.
Originally published on January 4, 2024.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
