What lies west of the Sunset Sea? What secrets does the empire of Yi Ti hold in the east?
Could we hear more about John Snow in the north?
There's no chance these "Game of Thrones" spin-offs could go south.
In Episode 1 of House of the Dragon, Alicent Hightower studies the history of Princess Nymeria
with her companion, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Nymeria is considered such an incredible
character, Arya Stark named her direwolf after her in the original Game of Thrones series,
and HBO is already developing a series about her, called 10,000 Ships.
"She took Lord Mors Martell of Dorne to husband,
and burnt her own fleet of Sunspear to show her own people they were finished running."
The legend of Princess Nymeria begins about a thousand years prior to the events in Game of
Thrones. Prince Garin thought their people — known as the Rhoynar — could hold their own against the
dragon-riding Valyrians. Nymeria suspected he was wrong, and when most of the men died fighting,
or were taken into slavery, she fled Essos with mostly women and children on the 10,000 ships they
had left. After a few extended stopovers, Nymeria and the Rhoynar settled in Dorne,
where she burned her enormous but barely seaworthy fleet to make the point that
they'd found their new home. At the time, the Dornish were having their own game of thrones,
and Nymeria married her preferred candidate for the crown, Mors Martell. She became the
Warrior Queen, uniting the kingdom and ushering in Dorne's culture of independence and gender parity.
It can be argued that a series about Nymeria would let audiences see one of George R. R. Martin's
greatest heroines in a more nuanced light. Since she lived so long ago, and what we know
of her borders on myth, 10,000 Ships could be an ideal vehicle for even more spectacle,
action, and romance than Thrones fans are used to. For example, besides that unimaginably huge fleet,
the Rhoynar were defeated with an airborne assault of 300 dragons.
Some storytelling formulas are tried and true, such as the trope of the reluctant adult forced
to care for the precocious kid. Currently, you can argue that the biggest guardian-child duo
is the Mandalorian and Grogu, while Game of Thrones has its own decidedly darker version
with Arya and the Hound. But George R.R. Martin's novellas — collected as A Knight
of the Seven Kingdoms — happen to contain an even better one. And it just so happens
that a series based on The Tales of Dunk and Egg is reportedly a high priority for HBO.
Dunk is Ser Duncan the Tall, a poor squire from Flea Bottom who pulls himself up by his
own bootstraps and white lies to become a great knight. Egg is an upper-class boy in disguise
who becomes his squire and traveling companion. Their adventures are episodic and generally more
light-hearted than the other yarns Martin spins, but there's still an adequate amount of chivalry,
backstabbing, warmongering, seafaring, and sexual tension to please the average Thrones viewer.
A Dunk and Egg series would also give audiences the chance to see characters
in their youth that they've already met. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms begins roughly
90 years prior to Game of Thrones and frequently ties back into existing lore.
For instance, beloved character Ser Brienne of Tarth is related to Ser Duncan the Tall,
though Martin has not yet revealed exactly how. But the Season 8 episode
in which she's knighted is not-so-subtly titled, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms."
The most consequential event in George R.R. Martin's entire body of work could be Aegon
Targaryen's conquest of Westeros. Aegon is such a pivotal character, the Game of Thrones timeline
revolves around him. Dates are recorded as BC, for "before conquest" and AC, for "after conquest."
As entertaining as it is to watch his family line fight each other for the crown 100 years
later in House of the Dragon, or fight for their very survival centuries later
in Game of Thrones, we'd really like to see the military campaign that started it all.
Aegon Targaryen the First is probably the most cinematic personality Martin has yet invented.
This striking, hulking, blonde-haired, purple-eyed man began his endeavor to unite the Seven Kingdoms
when — as we find out in House of the Dragon — he had a vision about a threat from the north.
"Aegon foresaw the end of the world of men. Tis to begin with a terrible winter."
Together with his sister wives, Visenya and Rhaenys — yes, he married both of his
sisters — and their dragons, Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar, Aegon managed to incorporate six of
Westeros' seven kingdoms into his domain. Some willingly bent the knee, while others
had to be convinced. Though, ultimately, he was never able to subdue the Dornish.
Though he looms large in the Game of Thrones universe, Aegon was a complicated person.
There's enough material just in his tenuous relationship with the Faith of the Seven
to make for a compelling TV series — let alone his wives,
his two very different sons, the six Kingdoms he ruled over, and the many battles which won
him control. Alas, there's no Aegon the Conqueror show currently in the works.
Arya Stark — played by the perfectly cast Maisie Williams — was one of the breakout characters of
Game of Thrones and one of the easiest to root for. When we leave her at the end of Season 8,
she informs her siblings that she's not going back to Winterfell,
"What's west of Westeros? I don't know."
In Martin's novels, what's west of Westeros is the Sunset Sea,
a body of water that is believed to be too vast to cross. So little has been written
about what lies beyond the shores of the westerlands that the showrunners — or even
Martin himself — could have a blast dreaming up a new world for Arya and her shipmates to discover.
Exactly what that world would look like — like Arya's voyage itself — could go in several
different directions. Some characters hold that there are dangerous creatures, such as krakens or
sea dragons, in the Sunset Sea. If HBO wanted to lean into magical realism the way it has done with
dragons, White Walkers, the Lord of Light, and the Faceless Men in Game of Thrones, an Arya-goes-west
series would certainly allow creatives to get fantastical. An explorer narrative could also
riff on themes related to Europe's colonization of North and South America, but the main reason
to make an Arya show is simple: more Arya! From her time as Tywin Lannister's cupbearer to her
world-saving dagger-wielding lunge at the Night King, Arya was consistently at the center of some
of the series' most iconic scenes. Unfortunately, as of now, there's no Arya on the horizon.
In House of the Dragon, Corlys Velaryon has several important posts. He's the husband of
Rhaenys Targaryen, the one-time heir who was passed over for Viserys' branch of the family
tree. He's the Master of Ships, charged with outfitting and commanding the royal fleet.
He's also master of the formidable Driftmark Stronghold, acts as a moderating voice on King
Viserys' small council, and is the richest man in the world. Corlys will get up to his
fair share of plotting and battling in House of the Dragon, but decades before that, he
accumulated power and fortune as a young man with unmatched talent on the high seas and in trade.
Corlys' origin story will either be called The Sea Snake — a nickname that comes from
the name of a ship he designed and built — or Nine Voyages, which were the number of journeys he took
to far-off places like Pentos, Volantis, and the Golden Empire of Yi Ti. Regardless of its title,
it'll illustrate the far-reaching adventures of this charismatic character before he was a
fixture of King Viserys' court. In the novel Fire & Blood, Corlys is described as wise in peace,
valiant in war, and someone who clings to life,
"like a drowning sailor clinging to the wreckage of a sunken ship."
Though Steve Toussaint shines like sunlight on water as Corlys in House of the Dragon,
a young actor would probably have to portray him in the spinoff.
While the proposed 10,000 Ships series focuses on a one-way journey, The Sea
Snake would have a completely different flavor as an island-hopping, treasure-collecting romp.
One of the places younger Corlys visits is Yi Ti, a thriving empire in the far
east. The Sea Snake managed to bring back silks and spices from the Golden Empire,
making him twice as rich as he'd been before. Jorah Mormont also asks Daenerys to run away
with him to Yi Ti after Khal Drogo's death in Game of Thrones. But outside of these few connections,
Yi Ti has a rich culture and a dramatic history all its own — one worthy of its own TV show. HBO
is in pre-production on an animated series that'll aim to tell the stories of the Golden Empire,
though no release date has been announced and no other relevant information has been revealed.
While it'd be great to give Asian actors an opportunity to play live-action roles within the
Game of Thrones universe, the colorful and diverse world of Yi Ti — which boasts lush farmland,
basilisk-ridden jungles, and bustling urban centers — can be beautifully
rendered in animation. With a history that stretches back thousands of years,
occasionally intersecting with Valyria and its dragons, there's just as much drama between the
various god-emperors who aspire to the Yi Ti throne as any other royal family in Game
of Thrones. A show that delves into Yi Ti — a subject which George R. R. Martin has
written comparatively little about — could make for a refreshing change of scenery.
As Game of Thrones drew to a close, HBO began mining Martin's novels for more content.
The network reportedly met with potential writers to develop pitches and assured them
that no concepts were too weird. In total, about 15 spinoff ideas were considered. One of the
pitches that failed to get the greenlight was a "superhero team-up" story about Westerosi gods.
While that may sound a bit too much like Eternals — Marvel's foray into ancient religions — a series
that further explores the role of religion in the Seven Kingdoms could be interesting.
"Does House Tarly keep the Old Gods?"
"No, my Lord. I was named in the light of the Seven."
Characters in Game of Thrones often referred to their deities as "the old gods
and the new." The "new" refers to the Seven — also known as the Seven Gods,
and the Seven-Faced God — who became the deities of the most widely practiced faith in Westeros.
Followers pray to the Father, the Mother, the Maiden, the Crone, the Warrior, the Smith, and the
Stranger — each representing a different aspect of humanity. For example, a soldier might pray to
the Warrior for bravery before an upcoming battle. This septad may or may not have been real people,
but their origins are from about 6000 years before the High Sparrow wreaks havoc in Season 5.
As in life, religious factions vie for political power in Westeros with just as much fervor as
any of the noble families. A show about the Seven, that flashed back and forth
between the Faith's founding and its influence circa the original Game of Thrones timeline,
would likely be as dark, mysterious, and morally ambiguous as the rest of Martin's world.
House of the Dragon is filling in the juicy backstory of one of Westeros' most notorious
families, and so far, audiences are happy to have all the salacious details. It stands to reason
they'd be just as curious to know more about the other family at the center of Game of Thrones,
and HBO may have planned to revisit the Kingdom of the North with a series called
either Bloodmoon or The Long Night starring British actress Naomi Watts.
It was to take place in the Age of Heroes thousands of years ago.
They even spent $30 million on a pilot before unceremoniously canning the project.
Though legions of Thrones fans would surely love to see the unaired episode, from context clues,
it sounds like it may have shifted its focus away from familiar faces and places. Perhaps a series
that sat squarely on the shoulders of King Brandon Stark — the founder of Winterfell and House
Stark — would've fared better? Part of the fun of a Bran the Builder story is that the man himself
may never have existed, though there are myriad carvings depicting his great works, and his body
supposedly lies in Winterfell's crypt. According to the companion book The World of Ice and Fire,
Bran's legend may be the result of a millennia of exaggeration and conflation. Generations of
Starks have been named after him, eventually culminating with King Bran the Broken at the
end of Game of Thrones. We've seen the Seven Kingdoms in chaos and decline, and now we've
seen them at one of their high points in House of the Dragon. It'd be fun to see them in the distant
past as one of the franchise's most familiar locales was in the process of being constructed.
When Game of Thrones ended in 2019, most fans assumed that they were leaving behind the likes
of Jon Snow and Sansa Stark for good. The news of spinoffs was already in the air,
and all of them were prequels. That seemed to make sense, as George R. R. Martin has yet to
complete his novel series, and Thrones stars like Kit Harington were already moving on to
other projects. So it took a moment for the idea to register when HBO announced that it intended to
make a true sequel about Jon Snow's life after the deaths of the Night King and Daenerys Targaryen,
with Harington reprising the role that made him a household name.
"I don't expect we'll ever see each other again."
"I wouldn't be so sure."
Unlike the rest of the shows in development, there's no source material upon which to base
a Jon Snow sequel series. All the potential writers have to go on is that Jon exiled
himself to the North after killing his aunt and former flame to prevent further atrocities.
We can assume he's been living as a Wildling again — maybe as their chosen leader — but even
that is an open question. This much of a blank slate could be a good thing or a bad thing,
but what's promising is that it could be a chance for viewers to catch up with
their favorite Thrones characters. One could easily imagine Sansa, Arya, Samwell Tarly,
and even Brienne popping up through cameos now and then. Even more tantalizing,
it could elevate Kristofer Hivju's character Tormund Giantsbane to co-star.