HBO has massive plans for the world of Westeros beyond the House of the Dragon spin-off that is currently in development.
Game of Thrones was one of the biggest TV series of all time when it was coming out on HBO, so it is no surprise that House of the Dragon is seeing as much success as it is.
That show, which already aired its first season, was already renewed for a Season 2 that is currently in development.
HBO's Major House of the Dragon Plans
House of the Dragon was confirmed to be returning for a second season on August 26, 2022, not even one week after Season 1's premiere episode debuted on HBO and saw incredibly high viewership numbers.
As of writing, Season 2 is in the midst of filming. It was not affected by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) or Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strikes since it is not an AMPTP production, meaning that it didn't have to be shut down.
Even though it has not yet been officially greenlit, HBO is currently planning on developing a third season of House of the Dragon, as the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons cannot be completed in Season 2.
However, Season 2 will feature a bit of a change from Season 1 in terms of length. Game of Thrones traditionally released 10 episodes per season (excluding Seasons 7 and 8), and Season 1 of House of the Dragon followed the same format.
It was confirmed, however, that Season 2 will only consist of eight episodes rather than 10.
Along with the episode count confirmation, HBO was also reportedly considering greenlighting Season 3 around the time Season 2 was. No word has been given on if the studio already privately went through with this, but considering how successful Season 1 was, it would be no surprise if HBO did.
HBO has never specifically stated how many seasons it feels House of the Dragon needs, but George R.R. Martin, the writer of Fire & Blood (the book that House of the Dragon is adapted), stated in one of his Not a Blog posts that it would "take four full seasons" to tell the story:
"It is going to take four full seasons of 10 episodes each to do justice to the Dance of the Dragons, from start to finish."
However, this was when HBO was planning on each season of House of the Dragon consisting of 10 episodes instead of eight.
Now that there will only be eight episodes of Season 2, which will probably be the case for Season 3 as well, and also considering that some scenes had to be cut in script rewrites, House of the Dragon may be forced to run for five seasons to tell the Dance of the Dragons story.
However, once House of the Dragons ends, that won't be the last fans see of Westeros.
Which Game of Thrones Spin-Off Shows Are Being Planning?
House of the Dragon is the first of many Game of Thrones spin-off shows that HBO currently has in the pipeline.
Some shows are farther along than others, but at least some minor details about what each series will be about have already been revealed.
For example, George R.R. Martin himself confirmed in another blog post that four of the planned shows are "in development at HBO:"
"There are four live-action successor shows in development at HBO. Word got out about three of them some time ago."
That being said, here are all of the planned Game of Thrones spin-offs (aside from House of the Dragon) that HBO has planned:
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a spin-off that was already confirmed and officially announced by HBO.
It will tell the story of Ser Duncan (Dunk) the Tall and Aegon V Targaryen (Egg), who eventually becomes the King of Westeros.
The show will be based on Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg series of novellas. Three of those novellas were already released, and Season 1 will focus on the first of those three, which is titled The Hedge Knight.
Ira Parker was confirmed to be penning the upcoming series alongside the help of Martin, and Martin revealed in a Not a Blog post that Parker was in the process of writing Season 1 before the writers' strike:
"The writer’s room on 'A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS: THE HEDGE KNIGHT' has closed for the duration. Ira Parker and his incredible staff of young talents are on the picket lines."
The writing process for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will continue after the strikes are over, and then, more official news from HBO regarding the series will make its way to the public.
Sea Snake (aka Nine Voyages)
Sea Snake will be set directly before the events of House of the Dragon, and it is possible (but not likely) that Corlys Velaryon actor Steve Toussaint could reprise his role in the series as it will be centered around Corlys' sea voyages during his early life and how he got the Sea Snake nickname.
Martin is also attached to this project along with Bruno Heller, who is already working on the pilot.
As previously mentioned, Steve Toussaint could return, but HBO will likely look for a younger actor. However, in a July 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Toussaint did already "petition" to at least "just be at the beginning" since he plays the character in House of the Dragon:
"If I'm lucky, I might say to them, 'Let me just be at the beginning [of the show] sitting with a book saying, 'Let me talk about my life. That'll be me petitioning."
Snow
The Game of Thrones spin-off that many fans seem to be most interested in is the Snow series which was only revealed recently.
That show will feature Kit Harington's return to the world of Westeros as Jon Snow and is the only one of the current spin-offs to be a sequel to Game of Thrones.
Martin revealed in another blog post that even though the show was only recently announced, it "has been in development" for the same amount of time "as the other three:"
"'SNOW' has been in development almost as long as the other three, but for whatever reason it was never announced and it never leaked… until now."
Martin also revealed in the same post that the show was Harington's idea and that the actor brought in his own team of showrunners and writers to work on the series (however, Martin is also involved):
"Yes, it was Kit Harington who brought the idea to us. I cannot tell you the names of the writers/showrunners, since that has not been cleared for release yet… but Kit brought them in too, his own team, and they are terrific."
10,000 Ships
10,000 Ships is yet another spin-off that is currently in the works that will feature a character named Nymeria.
Nymeria was a queen in Essos and worked to get her people into Dorne when they were cornered by the Valyrians.
It will take place around 1,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones and is being written by Amanda Segel.
Animated Series
The Hollywood Reporter revealed in 2021 that HBO was also planning on creating two animated shows set in the world of Westeros.
One of those series will be centered around the land of Yi-Ti, which has the working title The Golden Empire, and the other is not in active development as of writing.
Aegon the Conqueror Series
As previously reported, Variety wrote that HBO was aiming to get an Aegon the Conqueror series in development at HBO.
No official word on this project has been publicly revealed, but many fans have expressed the want to see Aegon and his story told on-screen, so it could be a top priority for HBO moving forward.
Many fan castings have even included Henry Cavill as Aegon himself.
