HBO has several spinoffs planned, but it’s missing what is perhaps the easiest, most obvious, and likely biggest possible option. Even prior to , the cable outfit was starting to explore ways to continue telling stories set in Westeros. That’s so far resulted in the canceled prequel about the Long Night and, of course, , but that’s only the beginning.
As well as , the list of other includes (which has been ordered to series) and talk of things such as a Jon Snow sequel and an Aegon the Conqueror prequel being in development. There’s potential to all the stories, but more surprising than what’s happening is what isn’t being made: a
For all the success of , and the odds that something like the would match it, there’s reason to believe that a Robert’s Rebellion show would be even bigger. This is, in a sense, the most natural prequel idea in the entire franchise: it’s the story that sets up and defines so much of what follows in , from broad strokes (Robert being King, the Targaryens all but wiped out) to critical character relationships and traits (Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen’s star-crossed lovers story, Jaime Lannister becoming the Kingslayer).
While Robert’s Rebellion would likely be the biggest spinoff (and has previously been mooted as a potential option), there’s one big problem: George R.R. Martin has previously been against it happening. Back in 2017, Martin wrote in his site:
"We're not doing Robert's Rebellion either. I know thousands of you want that, I know there's a petition... but by the time I finish writing A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, you will know every important thing that happened in Robert's Rebellion.
Of course, times change, people change, and plans change. In that same post, Martin also said they were not doing because he had more novellas to write, and now… is becoming a TV show, and no more novellas have yet been written. So it’s not impossible, but the difference there is Martin asserted he’d love to do eventually, whereas he clearly had no interest in Robert’s Rebellion.
It’s also worth considering how much itself covered of Robert’s Rebellion. Even aside from already have seen Aerys’ death in flashback, would any depiction of it match Jaime Lannister’s own recounting of what really happened to Brienne of Tarth? It’s one of