HBOWith the death of one Game of Thrones story, two more rise in its place.
As the first images of the prequel series Bloodmoon are shared online, another Game of Thrones spin-off series seems to be getting ever nearer too.
What with Daenarys’ quick descent into madness in the final season, and her unconventional relationship with her nephew Jon Snow, it’s no wonder people want to see more of the family tree that is Targaryen. And it seems the family might be getting their own series.
HBOAccording to EW, HBO is closing in on a deal for a project based on the Targaryen family history, which would eventually lead up to and document the house’s civil war, known in the books as the Dance of Dragons.
The Dance of Dragons was a civil war which went on during the Targaryen’s rule of the Seven Kingdoms. It was mainly between Aegon II and his half-sister Rhaenyra over their father Viserys I’s throne. It ended (spoiler alert!) with the death of both rivals, and the crowning of Rhaenyra’s son, Aegon III.
Writer of the epic books, George R.R. Martin, is on board as executive producer, who was reportedly very happy with this particular spin-off.
Earlier this year, the author released Fire and Blood, a 150-year-spanning history of House Targaryen. So it seems there’s plenty of source material for the TV series.
The recent book detailed the civil war, and the events running alongside it, which will form the basis of the show. The pilot was written by Ryan Condal, who wrote Colony, though other writers reportedly attempted to produce the pilot script too.
The Dance of Dragons, the Targaryen civil war, took place roughly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. In season five of the show, it was alluded to when Shireen Baratheon read a book about it to her father Stannis.
She said:
It’s the story of the fight between Rhaenyra Targaryen and her half-brother Aegon for control over the Seven Kingdoms.
Both of them thought they belonged on the Iron Throne. When people started declaring for one of them or the other, their fight divided the kingdoms in two. Brothers fought brothers, dragons fought dragons.
By the time it was over, thousands were dead. And it was a disaster for the Targaryens as well. They never truly recovered.
HBOThe Targaryen prequel series should follow HBO’s other GoT successor Bloodmoon. The series, from showrunner Jane Goldman, features Naomi Watts, and is set thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, when Westeros was on the verge of the The Long Night – the war between humans and the White Walkers.
Set so far apart, it’s doubtful the two prequel series will link up, leaving the studio with plenty of gaps to fill. Get ready for more from the world of Westeros!
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.