'Game of Thrones' Spinoffs: Every Show That's in the Works

Jon Snow Sequel

On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter learned that a direct sequel to Game of Thrones is in "the early stages of development." The show would reportedly follow Jon Snow in his life at The Wall and beyond after his banishment and would star Kit Harington in a reprisal of his role. This report was later corroborated by a second source, but many fans still felt like it was unlikely.

While many fans poked fun at this idea and said they wouldn't be interested in the show, some thought it had its merits. Many thought it could be a way for HBO to do some course correction on the franchise and re-frame the rushed events of the finale. However, so far HBO, Harington and Martin have not commented on this report, so it remains a rumor.

'House of the Dragon'

House of the Dragon has wrapped up filming and is expected to premiere on Sunday, Aug. 21, 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 more than a dozen dragons and their riders against each other in an all-out war. This series may serve as the lynchpin around which other, more experimental series can orbit. The show is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022.

'The Sea Snake'

The next most-developed project so far is a series about Corlys "The Sea Snake" Velaryon, which originally had the working title 9 Voyages but has now been changed to The Sea Snake, according to Martin. Velaryon 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 Rhoynar are an ancient civilization that rival the magical power and advancement of the Valyrian dragon riders. They lived along the massive river called The Rhoyne in Essos, however, when Daenerys' ancestors the Valyrian Freehold began to encroach on their land, the Rhoynish 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. Martin's in-world historians guess that it was about 1,000 years before the events of the main series, and 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.

Martin's latest blog post confirms that this show is more than just a rumor. He also revealed that showrunner Amanda Segel is developing the idea, and has already shown him some scripts that he approved of.

'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 had 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.

Martin has now confirmed that the Dunk & Egg adaptation is real, and that he has accepted it in spite of the risk to completionists. The showrunner is Steve Conrad, and Martin wrote: "My team and I have had some great sessions with Steve and his team, and we really hit it off. He's determined to do a faithful adaptation of the stories, which is exactly what I want; these characters and stories are very precious to me."

To many fans, this is bad news for the prospects of Martin finishing the last two books in A Song of Ice and Fire. For one thing, fans speculate that he will now want to finish the Dunk & Egg novella series quickly so that the TV show won't get ahead of it. For another, 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 in Dunk & Egg to the half-dead Greenseer that teaches Bran Stark to use his powers beyond The Wall in the main series.

Martin revealed that the first season of this TV series will adapt his first novella, "The Hedge Knight" in its entirety. He also wrote that the working title for the show is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but that the title The Hedge Knight is in the running as well.

Animated Options

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.

Even in his latest blog post, Martin said that he couldn't share many details about the animation projects in the works. He confirmed that there are multiple shows and gushed: "things are moving very fast, and I love love love some of the concept art I am seeing." Other than that, he could only give specifics on one animated series in particular: the one set in Yi Ti.

Yi Ti

In mid-July of 2021, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that a new spinoff was in the works to explore one of the most exotic locations in Martin's fantasy world: The Golden Empire of Yi Ti. The nation is based on imperial China, and is on the opposite side of the map from Westeros where it remains mired in mystery as far as our perspective characters are concerned. It was barely mentioned in the Game of Thrones TV show and rarely comes up in the books either, though the details in The World of Ice and Fire fascinate readers to no end.

Martin wrote that the working title for this series is The Golden Empire, and that there is "a great young writer" developing the series. He also wrote: "I think the art and animation is just going to be beautiful. I would tell you more if I could."

Some fan theories speculate that Yi Ti is the original home of dragon-riders, like before Daenerys' ancestors formed the Valyrian Freehold. Whether or not a TV show would touch on those kinds of connections is uncertain. Again, these are mysteries that fans hoped would be revealed in Martin's completed books, so the prospect of seeing them play out in a disparate cinematic universe is bittersweet.

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.

Meanwhile, a more recent rumor indicated that a drama was being developed called Flea Bottom. It would have been set in the slums of King's Landing at an unspecified time, fleshing out the city and the people who toil there.The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of this cancellation in July.

Game of Thrones is streaming now on HBO Max. House of the Dragon is in post-production and is expected to premiere on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. As for the other ideas listed above, fans will just have to keep their fingers crossed.