Game Of Thrones Spin-Offs We Want To See Next

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.