Making Sense of the Game of Thrones Universe Spinoffs

Based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, Game of Thrones was a breakthrough for HBO. Debuting in 2011, It straddled multiple eras of its network’s ownership and technology. 

The series showed that massive audiences would respond to fantasy series with dense mythologies. It also included a massive number of characters and place names.

And even though the series eventually got beyond Martin’s published books, many fans were dissatisfied with how the series ended. But Game of Thrones remains mostly well-remembered. 

As with most popular franchises in the present day, the overseers of what is now Warner Bros. Discovery have sought to extend the franchise in additional directions and indefinitely into the future. 

Even though George R.R. Martin still has to finish the A Song of Ice and Fire series, he has written several other works set in that universe that are natural fits for adaptation. 

A look at the different series set in the Westeros universe: 

Game of Thrones 

The main Game of Thrones series ran for eight seasons, starting in 2011 and continuing through 2018. Created and run by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, it told a sprawling story.

It focused at first on the War of Five Kings and continued through the quest of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) to recapture the throne for the Targaryen dynasty. 

The series’ other major storylines included Tyrion Lannister’s (Peter Dinklage) quest for respect within his family and later his emergence as a political adviser.

There was also Jon Snow’s (Kit Harington) evolution from a bastard son of a Northern dynasty to a Night’s Watch recruit and King in the North.

The series built throughout to the clash between humanity and the army of White Walkers. 

An offscreen subplot throughout the years that Game of Thrones was on the air was whether the series would outrun the books before Martin could finish them. The series would beat the books to the end—it turned out, by several years. 

Game of Thrones spent most of its run as one of the most popular and pirated television shows. And it also stood astride major changes in the industry.

When it began, HBO was a premium cable channel. By its end, streaming was beginning to gain a foothold. The company first launched HBO G and later HBO Now. 

Bloodmoon/The Long Night 

Even before Game of Thrones ended, it was clear HBO wanted more shows set in its universe. At one point, the network announced that it was pursuing several different spinoffs simultaneously. 

The first one to reach a pilot did not go forward as a series. 

According to A Wiki of Ice and Fire, that particular series had the “production title” of Bloodmoon. It was also sometimes known as Game of Thrones: The Long Night.

The series was set thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones during the “Age of Heroes.” Jane Goldman was the showrunner. 

HBO announced the pilot in June 2018. Naomi Watts, who plays Morven Casterly, is the biggest name in the cast. Other cast members included Josh Whitehouse, George Henley, Naomi Ackie, and Sheila Atim. 

They shot the pilot, although it didn’t quite work out well, and the network announced in October 2019 that it would not proceed.

On the same day, HBO announced that it was moving forward with a different prequel series, which received a straight-to-series order. 

House of The Dragon 

That show was House of the Dragon, also a prequel but set much closer to the events of Game of Thrones, about 200 years before the War of Five Kings started. 

The series has direct source material in Martin’s 2018 book Fire and Blood, which depicts an intra-Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.

Martin and Ryan Condal created the series, with Condal and Miguel Sapochnik serving as showrunners in the first season.

From the start, the series has been streaming on what was then HBO Max (now Max) in addition to HBO. 

One march is Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), assisted by her uncle/husband Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith).

The other is King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), assisted by his mother Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).   

The series also has many more dragons than Game of Thrones did. Dragons are a part of regular life in Westeros in that particular era. 

House of the Dragon debuted its first season in the summer of 2022, with the second season arriving in the summer of 2024, thanks to strike delays. HBO has announced that the show will run for four seasons. 

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms 

HBO announced in June of 2024 that the next series in the franchise, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, had begun production after it officially received an official order the year before. 

The show is based on Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, starting with the first one, The Hedge Knight.

The series covers the adventures of a knight named Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his much shorter squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), who is also a Targaryen prince. 

The series is set after the events of House of the Dragon but before those of Game of Thrones. The six-episode first season will air on HBO and Max in 2025. 

Untitled Aegon’s Conquest series

In February of 2024, HBO announced that it was developing a series about Aegon’s Conquest. Those were the events that led to the Targaryens first taking control of the Kingdom of Westeros.

Aegon the Conqueror was the first of many Targaryen kings named Aegon, whose conquest came before the events of House of the Dragon.

Mattson Tomlin, the screenwriter of The Batman, is writing the series, although the series still has not received a green light.

Snow 

In the years after Game of Thrones wrapped up, there were reports of a sequel about Jon Snow’s adventures following the main series. 

However, the show was never greenlit, and Kit Harington revealed in an interview in 2024 that it was “no longer in active development.” 

“Currently, it’s off the table because we all couldn’t find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough,” Harington said in an interview.

Other shows 

Those will unlikely be the last Game of Thrones spinoffs to arrive, but they are the only ones officially announced so far.

Among the series mentioned in development is The Sea Snake (also known as Nine Voyages), a show that focuses on the character of Lord Corlys Velaryon, played on House of the Dragon by Steven Toussaint.

Different versions have been either live-action or animated but have not been greenlit.

Another is Ten Thousand Ships, another potential prequel that would examine the history of Dorne, one of the more underdeveloped corners of the Seven Kingdoms.

The show was scrapped and then revived but is not officially moving forward.

As Martin wrote about in a blog post in 2022, an animated spinoff called The Golden Empire was also at one point in development, although there’s little indication it is still in the works.

There are a couple of thousand years of lore to explore.

That includes everything from Robert’s Rebellion to events after the end of Game of Thrones, which could be taken up by future series.