For eight seasons, the Iron Throne was the prize that turned Westeros into a battlefield. But the throne itself was only the beginning of the story. Long before Daenerys Targaryen tried to reclaim it, and even before the events of House of the Dragon, one Targaryen arrived with three dragons and set out to forge the Seven Kingdoms into one realm.
That story is now making the franchise's biggest jump yet. While Game of Thrones has expanded through television with House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Warner Bros is taking the world of Westeros to cinemas for the first time. The project will focus on Aegon I Targaryen, the founder of the Targaryen dynasty's rule over Westeros.
Titled Game of Thrones: Aegon's Conquest, the film has been officially scheduled to hit theatres on June 1, 2029. Owen Harris, who directed three episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, is attached to direct the film, while Beau Willimon, known for House of Cards and as a writer on Andor, has penned the screenplay.
The film will travel much further back in Westerosi history than any of the franchise's live-action stories so far. Aegon's conquest took place roughly 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones and chronicles how he, along with his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys, used their dragons Balerion, Vhagar and Meraxes to conquer most of the continent.
That makes the project something of an origin story for the world audiences already know. Aegon eventually became the first king to sit on the Iron Throne and established the dynasty whose descendants would include characters such as Daenerys Targaryen. His conquest is chronicled in George RR Martin's Fire & Blood, which also serves as the source material for House of the Dragon.
But Aegon did not conquer all of Westeros. His campaign brought six of the Seven Kingdoms under his rule, while Dorne resisted. The conflict also gave rise to some of the most significant events in Targaryen history, including the creation of the Iron Throne and the burning of Harrenhal.
Interestingly, the man at the centre of the story has never been portrayed in live action. The franchise has featured several characters named Aegon, from Aegon II in House of the Dragon to the young Egg in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but the original Aegon the Conqueror has so far remained a figure discussed rather than seen on screen.
The road to the big screen has itself been a long one. Plans for a Game of Thrones movie have been discussed for more than a decade, dating back to the original HBO series. At one point, creators David Benioff and DB Weiss considered ending the television saga with feature films, but that idea never materialised. The current Aegon's Conquest project emerged from a later development process, with Willimon's screenplay ultimately giving Warner Bros a version it wanted to pursue theatrically.
The project was first announced as part of Warner Bros Discovery's future slate, initially with a tentative 2028 window. At the time, the film was still in its early stages without a director or cast attached. The latest announcement now gives it a firm theatrical date and Harris as its filmmaker. There is still plenty that remains unknown. No actor has been announced to play Aegon, and the rest of the casting is yet to be revealed.