Curious what’s next? House of the Dragon creator just named the bestTargaryen storyline

The Game of Thrones universe is getting increasingly difficult to keep straight, with so many spin-offs, sequels, prequels, and now even stage productions cropping up. House of the Dragon has just wrapped its third series with the rather savage 'The Treasons at Tumbleton', and if you're into dragons battering each other and vengeful queens going off the rails, it certainly delivered. Rhaenyra Targaryen's journey is looking distinctly bleak, which frankly tracks if you've read your Targaryen history. With just one more series to go before House of the Dragon officially bows out, you might think HBO would call it a day. Of course, you’d be wrong.

House of the Dragon series four will bring the Targaryen civil war, known as the Dance of the Dragons, to its conclusion.

What Comes After Dragons?

House of the Dragon may be heading for the exit (final episodes due in 2028), but HBO’s far from done with Westeros. There’s a whole new prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, set a good few decades later and already greenlit for a second season. That's not even the end of it—yet another project, a proper movie about Aegon's Conquest (the bloke who originally melted everybody’s swords into the Iron Throne), is set for 2029. You’ll have no shortage of silver wigs and increasingly dubious royal families for the foreseeable.

The era HBO seems to keep skipping over, though, is the actual downfall of the Targaryen dynasty—the bit we hear about all the time on Game of Thrones but almost never see. According to Ryan Condal, who's run House of the Dragon up to this point, that particular stretch of history is the next big one left unexplored, and he’s got a personal preference about how it would be told. Speaking to Collider, Condal didn’t mince words:

Here's how showrunner Ryan Condal framed it in his interview: "I think the most interesting story left on the table is the story of the end of the Targaryen dynasty. But the one told from the point of view of the Targaryens themselves."

By 'the end', Condal means the moment King Aerys II—that’d be 'the Mad King' himself—finally gets it in the neck thanks to Jaime Lannister. That's when Robert Baratheon seizes the throne, Daenerys goes on the run as a child, and the last Targaryen dragon is a lizard-shaped memory. And yes, we get loads of lore and muttering about this era during Game of Thrones, but not much in the way of actual screen time. There’s even a stage play now, simply called The Mad King, set in those years—although, by all accounts, it doesn’t cover the whole fall of House Targaryen either.

The Unadaptable Years (For Now)

George R.R. Martin, the chap whose Song of Ice and Fire books kicked this all off, has said more than once that if he ever gets round to finishing the novels, he’ll have that whole Mad King arc locked down anyway—so a big-screen version could be redundant. Although, he also once claimed he didn't want his Dunk and Egg stories adapted, but now he’s all in on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Clearly, what Martin says and what ends up happening aren’t always the same thing.

If HBO ever does take a swing at the Mad King and the violent end of the Targaryens, don’t expect Ryan Condal to be running the show. He says he’s said everything he wants about dragons, Targaryens, and iron furniture, and appears to mean it this time.

Ryan Condal confirmed he's out for any future Targaryen demise projects: "I have really said all I have to or need to say about dragons and Targaryens and thrones."

What’s Next in Westeros?

As things stand, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is going to be the next Game of Thrones screen story you see, with its second season pencilled in for 2027. Once House of the Dragon wraps in 2028, it's the Aegon’s Conquest film’s turn in 2029. What comes after? If anyone claims to know for sure, they're probably lying.