It feels like every few weeks, we get yet another spinoff series announcement that will stretch the storylines and scope of the "Game of Thrones" universe. And joining a slate of upcoming projects that include the animated series "Nine Voyages", the untitled Jon Snow TV show starring Kit Harington, and a second season of "House of the Dragon" comes a planned prequel series centered on a certain Targaryen ruler.
Last week it was announced that HBO was developing a series based on Aegon the Conqueror, the founder and first king of the Targaryen dynasty who conquered the continent of Westeros and united the realm alongside his sister-wives Rhaenys and Visenya and their three dragons, Balerion, Vhagar, and Meraxes.
Fans of the "Game of Thrones" prequel series "House of the Dragon" will no doubt have heard the name Aegon Targaryen before, as that HBO show follows the "Dance of the Dragons" succession war between the king's namesake and great-great-great-grandson, Prince Aegon II (played by Tom Glynn-Carney), and the latter's older half-sister, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy.) Making things even more confusing, Rhaenyra also named one of her sons after the O.G. king of the Iron Throne, with young Aegon III being portrayed by twin child actors Jake and Rory Heard in "HOTD."
However, though we've surely heard of Aegon Targaryen, we haven't seen him onscreen before. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the Aegon's conquest spinoff will reportedly serve as a direct prequel to "House of the Dragon," following Aegon Targaryen's "bloody and brutal conquest" of the Seven Kingdoms. It will allegedly take place a century before the events of "HOTD." (If you're keeping track, "House of the Dragon" itself takes place almost 200 years before the events of "Game of Thrones".)
According to the THR report, the Aegon-focused show will take a "back to basics" approach to George R.R. Martin’s fantasy universe and HBO has already tapped screenwriter Mattson Tomlin, who did uncredited work on Matt Reeve’s "The Batman" and is co-writing the upcoming sequel, "The Batman Part II".
Given that "House of the Dragon" season 2 is already expected to drop in summer 2024 (per series star Matt Smith) and HBO only just dropped word about the pre-"House of the Dragon" prequel, we're not expecting to see the Aegon the Conqueror series until 2025 or 2026 at the earliest.
But it's far from the only "Game of Thrones" spinoff in development. (And that's not even including now-defunct shows like the prequel series that never got made.) Along with the aforementioned series like "Nine Voyages" and the Jon Snow-focused spinoff, there's also "A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight" based on Martin's "Dunk and Egg" novellas, which has been ordered to series and is reportedly set to begin production sometime this year.
Tom's Guide will be sure to keep you posted on any news of the Aegon the Conqueror prequel, as well as all of the other "Game of Thrones"-related projects currently in development by HBO. In the meantime, Westeros fans can revisit both "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon" with a Max subscription.
