A Star Wars Writer Is Writing A Game Of Thrones Movie — But There’s A Catch
What’s better than one Aegon’s Conquest? Two Aegon’s Conquests.
Game of Thrones is big again. With the success of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, it seems like there can’t be too many Aegons in this basket: Season 2 of Knight is already in production, more House of the Dragon is on the way, the Royal Shakespeare Comapny has a stage play about Robert’s Rebellion in the works, Corlys Verlaryon’s adventures will be brought to life through animation, and an old Jon Snow spinoff is being retooled to focus on Arya. On top of all that, a new movie is being written by a TV veteran, although it may have a curious overlap with a project already in development.
According to Page Six Hollywood, Andor writer and House of Cards showrunner Beau Willimon has submitted a draft for a theatrical Game of Thrones film. Details are scarce, but apparently the story will focus on Aegon’s Conquest, the journey of King Aegon Targaryen I and his two sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, as they conquer and unite the seven kingdoms into the realm we see in Game of Thrones. This would be quite far back in the timeline, about 300 years before Daenerys went on her own campaign.
Beau Willimon wrote Andor Season 1’s Narkina 5 arc and Season 2’s Mon Mothma rescue story.
If Willimon’s script is about Aegon’s Conquest, it will be the second in-development production to cover the event. The Batman Part II co-writer Mattson Tomlin is developing his own take on the event, either as a film or a series. Could this be a bake-off situation, with Warner Bros. selecting its favorite of the two takes?
The report does caution that ideas in development won’t necessarily move to production, especially in this case. Warner Bros. Discovery is on the verge of a massive deal with Paramount Skydance, and it’s likely we’ll see some projects become collateral damage of the acquisition, much like when a planned Wonder Twins movie, among other projects, were canceled by Warner’s 2022 merger with Discovery.
Aegon the Conqueror is the great-great-grandfather of Aegon II, the king depicted in House of the Dragon.
But while we’re still very early into the process, it’s clear that Warner Bros. wants to adapt Aegon’s Conquest in one way or another. House of the Dragon proved that there’s appeal in Targaryen scheming, so the franchise can return to the power throuple that gave us the Westeros we know to begin with. Expect to see a lot of announcements like this as the corporate merger continues, but don’t get your hopes up too high. In the game of television, you either win or you’re shelved.
