If the Game of Thrones spinoffs won’t show Robert’s Rebellion, what are they about then?

The safest bet for the announced Game of Thrones spinoffs was probably Robert’s Rebellion, but apparently, that just isn’t happening.

Earlier this month, yours truly asked if you wanted to see Game of Thrones‘ spinoff series adapt Robert’s Rebellion to the small screen. Even if your answer was yes, you’re unfortunately out of luck. Winter is Coming, our sister site, found a post from George R.R. Martin himself on his LiveJournal confirming that none of the five (yes, five, not four) covers the major events which basically kick off the events of Game of Thrones (at least the political parts, anyway. The White Walkers are a different story). Dunk and Egg also won’t get the nod.

Time to break out the logic. Martin also said that all five series currently being worked on are prequels and that not all of them necessarily use Westeros as their primary setting. With these four facts in mind, let’s see if we can’t try and pinpoint some events that may have inspired these new series.

First, I still think that The Dance of the Dragons or an otherwise Targaryen-centric story is high on the priority list. Game of Thrones has a lot of different appeals, but it’s tough to deny that the dragons themselves draw people in. On one hand, they’re cool. On the other, all of that CGI means it’s going to be another big-budget show. Is HBO willing to spend all that money again? Or will the recent deal with Sky Atlantic mean that money is no object? It could be that there’s a Dance show as well as one about Aegon the Conquerer in the works. That’s two of five.

Another guess, inspired by the setting comment, might be the Doom of Valyria. That would be a huge amount of time to explain away, but it could end up being a major explanation for how Westeros and the world as the cast of Game of Thrones knows it came to be the way it is. There would likely be less buzz about its possible ending, since the Doom is not particularly happy, but it is still a familiar enough event.

Could the Faceless Men have a series of their own? It would skew more towards espionage than full-out fantasy action, but it, too, hits the marks. Perhaps something about the many faces of Jaqen H’ghar? Instead of regenerating like the Doctor on Doctor Who, he just gets to change his face.

Next: Is Sam Tarly sticking around on GoT?

At this point, it’s impossible to know what’s being worked on and what isn’t, as well as what will succeed. However, with so many dragon eggs in the fire, the odds seem pretty fair that something will come out of all this work.