The original Game of Thrones came to an end back in 2019 with a finale that continues to inspire debate, but that wasn’t the end of Westeros on television. HBO has been developing a number of spinoffs over the years, and just made a big step forward with the potential Tales of Dunk and Egg prequel series that is already worth getting excited about. The writer is on board, and he could be an absolutely A+ person to helm the story.
Tales of Dunk and Egg has landed Steve Conrad of Amazon’s Patriot and AMC’s Ultra City Smiths (among other projects) as writer, according to Variety, and he’ll also serve as executive producer. The prequel series hasn’t yet followed in the footsteps of House of the Dragon in scoring a series order from HBO, but landing a writer and executive producer is a positive sign about progress being made.
News broke that Tales of Dunk and Egg was in development as a potential series nearly a full year before Steve Conrad came on board as writer. Like Game of Thrones, the project would be an adaptation of stories written by author George R.R. Martin, although not part of the A Song of Ice and Fire saga that will hopefully one day be completed. It was rumored as far back as 2017, however, and the source material for these stories is different enough from ASOIAF that landing Conrad could be the best thing to turn the Dunk and Egg novellas into a hit TV show.
Although Steve Conrad isn’t a veteran of the franchise, he comes from a background of some unconventional, interesting, and weird projects – in the best way. He created, wrote, and directed Amazon’s Patriot, which was a combination of a crime drama with some quirky humor. It was a hit with critics and its fanbase, but nevertheless was cancelled after two seasons.
He then created, wrote, and directed Epix’s Perpetual Grace LTD as a modern noir drama about a grifter, which boasted a strong premise and cast but ended after one season. He also created AMC’s stop motion series Ultra City Smiths, which combines so many genres in such a rare format that it all but defies explanation. Basically, he’s not the kind of writer who worked on Game of Thrones during its heyday, so if Dunk and Egg gets a series order, then fans can presumably count on something new rather than something that has been done time and time again.
And that’s ideal for these stories, because they certainly don’t involve the War of the Five Kings a la Game of Thrones or the upcoming Dance of the Dragons in House of the Dragon. George R.R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg stories follow Ser Duncan the Tall and a young Aegon V Targaryen and their adventures 90 years before the beginning of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones Season 1. If the potential spinoff is going to at all be faithful to the source material, then it should be different from the original.
Only time will tell, however. Adding Steve Conrad is a sign that the project is continuing to develop and could eventually get that order to become a one-hour ongoing series, but HBO may be focusing on launching its first official Game of Thrones spinoff more than anything else. House of the Dragon boasts a star-studded cast and will premiere in 2022, while the future is more uncertain for Dunk and Egg, as well as the other live-action potential spinoffs in development and possible animated spinoffs for the HBO Max streaming service.
