George R.R. Martin Wanted to Start House of the Dragon Even Earlier In the Game of Thrones Timeline

HBO recently wrapped up a tremendous first season of their Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon with a massive cliffhanger. During the season finale, we saw a pretty huge death that becomes a catalyst for the future war that the series will focus on in its second season. House of the Dragon probably won’t begin filming its second season until sometime in the beginning of 2023, so that means we probably won’t get it until summer 2024. The series is set about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, but creator George R.R. Martin wanted it set about 40 more years before that. During a recent discussion with fellow fantasy writer David Anthony Durham, the Martin revealed that he wanted the series to start a little earlier in the Westeros timeline.

“I would’ve begun it like 40 years earlier, with an episode I would’ve called ‘The Heir and the Spare,’” Martin revealed. “Jaehaerys’ two sons, Aemon and Baelon, are alive, and we see the friendship but also the rivalry between the two sides of the great house. Then Aemon dies accidentally when a Myrish crossbowman shoots him by accident on Tarth, then Jaehaerys has to decide who becomes the new heir. Is it the daughter of the son who’s just died, or the second son who has children of his own and is a man where she’s a teenager? You could’ve presented all that stuff, but then you would’ve had 40 more years, and even more.”

HBO has been developing a bunch of series set in the Game of Thrones universe including House of the Dragon. Also among the projects said to be in development is a Tales of Dunk and Egg prequel series. So, it looks like Warner Bros. and HBO will be in the Game of Thrones business for a long time.

Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin recently opened up about the in-development Jon Snow spin-off in a new post to his blog. In the post he revealed that he collaborated with Harington on the series as well as two other mystery writers/showrunners. Martin wrote in the blog post that he couldn’t reveal who will write the series but that Harington’s team is terrific.

“Yes, it was Kit Harrington who brought the idea to us,” the Game of Thrones creator revealed. “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.”

In the final season of Game of Thrones, Jon Snow learned of his true identity as Aegon Targaryan, the true heir to the Iron Throne. After killing killing his aunt/girlfriend, Daenarys, to keep her from power, Jon was forced to choose a life of exile in the Night’s Watch. Instead of staying with the Night’s Watch, Jon headed North of the Wall to live with the Wildlings and his dire wolf Ghost. The series is said to focus on what happened after these events.

“We developed a lot of ideas, we were still developing a lot of ideas, and I think we’re really excited about the one that will air later this summer,” HBO VP of original programming Kara Buckley said of Game of Thrones spin-offs. “But, we don’t feel the need to make another one unless it feels really creatively exciting to us. That’s my job, at least. And the team that I’m on, that’s what we’re told to focus on.”

The first season of House of the Dragon is exclusively streaming on HBO Max!

What do you think of his idea? Should they have done that instead? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!