Game Of Thrones Spin-Offs We Want To See Next

While fans of George R. R. Martin anticipated the premiere of "Game of Thrones" in 2011, the hit HBO show introduced many more new viewers to the world of Martin's books. Over eight seasons, the television adaptation of Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga told the tale of how the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros (and then some) squabbled and then sort of united to take on the looming threat of the Night King and his undead minions. Martin's writing combines elements of historical fiction and hard fantasy with touches of exploitation and horror, which means that as long as you're of a certain age, there's something for everyone. That holds true for the second show based on one of his properties — the fictional found history text "Fire & Blood" — retitled "House of the Dragon" for the small screen.

Instead of kingdoms conniving and warring with other kingdoms, "House of the Dragon" follows one of Martin's royal lineages — the mighty dragon-riding Targaryens — as they connive and war amongst themselves. Unlike "Game of Thrones," in which one season chronicled one book's worth of events, "House of the Dragon" will pull not from one novel but from a handful of detailed and fast-moving chapters. Martin's world-building is so dense and expansive that whole episodes will be inspired by a few paragraphs. That means there are plenty of pages and plenty of stories left over for HBO to tell. These are the prequels, spinoffs, and sequels we're most excited to see brought to life from Essos, Westeros, whatever's west of Westeros, and north of the wall. 

In Episode 1 of "House of the Dragon," Alicent Hightower studies the history of Princess Nymeria with her companion, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Nymeria is such an incredible character, Arya Stark named her direwolf after her, and hers is such an incredible story, HBO is already developing a series about it, called "10,000 Ships."

The legend of Princess Nymeria of Ny Sar begins about a thousand years in "Game of Thrones'" past. Prince Garin thought their people, the Rhoynar, could hold their own against the dragon-riding Valyrians. Nymeria suspected he was wrong, and when most of the men were taken into slavery or died fighting, she fled Essos with the remaining Rhoynar (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. Nymeria married her preferred candidate for the crown, Mors Martell (ancestor of Oberyn), and became the Warrior Queen, uniting the kingdom and ushering in Dorne's culture of independence and gender parity. 

A Nymeria series would let audiences see one of Martin's greatest heroines in a more nuanced light, since she lived so long ago and what we know of her borders on myth (details about her life are mentioned throughout Martin's writing, but the fictional source material comes from "The World of Fire and Ice"). "10,000 Ships" would also 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 are defeated with an airborne assault of 300 dragons. 

Some storytelling formulas are tried and true. One example is the trope of the reluctant adult forced to care for the precocious kid. Currently, the hottest guardian-and-child duo is the Mandalorian and Grogu, but "Game of Thrones" has its own decidedly darker version with Arya and the Hound. Martin's novellas, collected as "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," happen to contain an even better one, and 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 knight who goes on to do great things. 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 they've already met in their youth as well as a chance to see characters and events they've previously heard about in live action. "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. 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 Martin's entire body of work is 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 (before conquest) or AC (after conquest). As entertaining as it is to watch his family line fight it out for the crown 100 years later in "House of the Dragon" or fight for their very survival 200 years after that in "Game of Thrones," we'd really like to see the military campaign that started it all. 

Aegon I Targaryen is probably the most cinematic personality Martin has yet invented. This striking, hulking, blonde 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. Together with his sister wives, Visenya and Rhaenys (that's right, 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; he was never able to subdue the Dornish. Some willingly bent the knee while others had to be convinced. 

Though he looms large in the "Game of Thrones" universe, Aegon was (at least in Martin's stories) a real and complicated person. There's enough material just in his tenuous relationship with the Faith of the Seven — let alone his wives, his two very different sons, the six Kingdoms he ruled over, and the many battles than won him control — to make for a compelling TV series. Alas, there's no Aegon the Conqueror show currently in the works. 

Unflappable Arya Stark 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 and boards a ship to find out "what's west of Westeros." In Martin's writing, 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 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 could, like Arya's voyage itself, go in several different directions. Some characters hold that there are dangerous creatures in the Sunset Sea, such as krakens or sea dragons. If HBO wanted to lean into magical realism the way it has done with dragons, the 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, a perfectly cast Maisie Williams as Arya was consistently at the center of some of "Thrones'" 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 also King Viserys' Master of Ships and a moderating voice on his small council. But that's not all: His superlatives also include Lord of the Tides, Master of Driftmark, and richest man in the world. This more mature version of Corlys Velaryon 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 the trade ports. 

The Corlys Velaryon 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" (the number of journeys he took to places like Pentos, Volantis, and Yi Ti). Regardless of its title, it'll illustrate the far-reaching adventures this charismatic character had in the days before he was a fixture of the court of King Viserys. In "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 Touissant shines like sunlight on water as the Sea Snake, a young actor would probably have to portray him in a spinoff. They both involve boats, but "10,000 Ships" is a one-way journey, which means this island-hopping, treasure-collecting romp would have a completely different flavor. 

One of the places younger Corlys visits is Yi Ti, a thriving Empire that lies beyond the Jade Gates in the far east of Essos. The Sea Snake brings back silks and spices from Yi Ti that make 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. But outside of its few connections to existing properties, 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" or the second great age of its ruling dynasties, 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 roles within the "Game of Thrones" canon in live action, the colorful and diverse world of Yi Ti — which boasts lush farmland, basilisk-ridden jungles, and bustling urban centers — would be beautiful rendered in the right style of animation. As far as Yi-Ti's royal families go, there's just as much drama between the various god-emperors who aspire to its throne. With a history that stretches back thousands of years and occasionally intersects with Valyria and its dragons, a show that delves into George R. R. Martin's take on Yi Ti (about which he's personally written comparatively little) could make for a refreshing change of scenery. 

As "Game of Thrones" drew to a close, HBO began mining Martin's tomes for more content. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the network 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 Westeros' gods. While that sounds a bit too much like "Eternals," Marvel's foray into ancient religions, a series that further explored the role of religion in the Seven Kingdoms could be interesting if it avoided the superhero and teaming up parts of that doomed pitch.

Characters in "Game of Thrones" often referred to "the old gods and the new." The "new" refers to the Seven (or the Seven Gods, or 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 — who each represent a different aspect of humanity — as their needs require. For example, a soldier might pray to the Warrior for bravery before an upcoming battle. This Septad (who may or may not have been real people) lived 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 noble families. A show about the Seven that flashed back and forth between the Faith's founding and its influence circa "Game of Thrones" 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, the Targaryens, 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 Naomi Watts. It was to take place in the Age of Heroes thousands of years ago, during which time Bran the Builder may have lived. 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 would be that the man himself may never have existed. Though there are myriad carvings depicting his great works and he supposedly lies in Winterfell's crypt, according to "The World of Ice and Fire," his legend may be the result of millennia of exaggeration and conflation. Generations of Starks have been named after him, including King Bran the Broken. We've seen the Seven Kingdoms in chaos and decline in "Game of Thrones," 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 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 "A Song of Ice and Fire" 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 Kit Harington reprising the role that made him a household name. 

Unlike the rest of the shows in development, there's exactly no source material upon which to base a Jon Snow series. That much of a blank slate could be a good thing or a bad thing: All the writers will 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. What's most promising about the idea is that it could be a chance for viewers to catch up with their favorite "Game of Thrones" characters through cameos. One could easily imagine Sansa, Arya, Samwell Tarly, and even Ser Brienne popping up now and then. Even more tantalizing, it could give fans something else they desperately want: Kristofer Hivju's Tormund Giantsbane elevated to co-star.