HBO’s next Game of Thrones spinoff just got the best possible writer

Game of Thrones has officially leveled up from hit series to franchise. While House of the Dragon confirmed there was more life in author George R.R. Martin’s fantasy universe after Game of Thrones‘ disastrous series finale, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms confirmed that universe was large enough to contain stories both big and small. So what’s next for the franchise? It looks like we might be getting a movie, and the latest news indicates that the movie could be attached to arguably the best possible screenwriter for the job.

Page Six reports that Beau Willimon (House of Cards, Andor) recently submitted a script to Warner Bros. for a Game of Thrones prequel movie. Variety notes that while the details of Willimon’s screenplay are unknown, it’s expected to chart the conquest of Westeros by Aegon Targaryen I, which takes place roughly 100 years before House of the Dragon (and 300 years before Game of Thrones). This follows a report from The Hollywood Reporter that revealed the studio was developing an adaptation of Aegon’s story, either as an HBO series or a “mammoth Dune-sized feature film.”

What’s notable here, however, is the inclusion of Willimon, who previously helped write some of the best episodes of the critically acclaimed Star Wars series Andor. Specifically, he wrote the Narkina 5 arc in season 1 (three episodes set on a dystopian prison planet) and then returned in season 2 for the Ghorman massacre (another three episodes depicting how the Empire creates a false-flag attack to squash a growing rebellion on a resource-rich planet). In both cases, he delivered what is arguably the most memorable and gripping batch of episodes in each season, while offering an on-the-ground perspective of how fascist governments grinds down the individual — and how that individual can fight back.

Image: Lucasfilm

Bringing that sensibility to Aegon’s conquest will be an interesting challenge. The story could easily be told from the Targaryen perspective as a glorious campaign of domination where dragons soar across Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms bend to Aegon’s will (think House of the Dragon, but even bigger). Willimon’s involvement suggests something different: a story of imperial conquest told from the perspective of the smallfolk.

As we’ve seen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, this franchise is at its best when it tells stories from the ground level, not the towers of King’s Landing. If Willimon can combine that sensibility with the epic scale of a Game of Thrones-style dragon set piece, fans may be in for something truly special.