Game Of Thrones' Movie Now Needs To Bring Back 1 Key House Of The Dragon Character

Warner Bros' upcoming Game of Thrones movie can, and should, include a House of the Dragon character after a major reveal in season 3 of the prequel. The latest run of the show has wrapped up, but there's a lot more to come from the Westeros franchise. That includes A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 in 2027, while House of the Dragon season 4 (which will be the show's last) is expected to hit HBO sometime in 2028.

There are several more Game of Thrones spinoffs in development, but the franchise is also making its way to the big screen. This is something that's long seemed likely: when George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books were first eyed for adaptation, most discussions before HBO's involvement centered on potential movies. Later, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss pitched ending Game of Thrones with three movies, but that was rejected.

Now it is becoming a reality, with Game of Thrones: Aegon's Conquest hitting theaters sometime after 2027, written by Beau Willimon (House of Cards, Andor). It will tell the story of how Aegon the Conqueror and his sister-wives, Rhaenys and Visenya, conquered the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, forged the Iron Throne, and started a dynasty that would last for almost 300 years. The timeline of Aegon's Conquest puts it around 130 years before House of the Dragon season 3, but we now know one person is old enough to have been around.

Game Of Thrones: Aegon's Conquest Can Bring Back House Of The Dragon's Alys Rivers

The House of the Dragon season 3 finale was full of major moments and shocking twists, but it also dropped a fascinating lore reveal: Alys Rivers' backstory. She's someone who is very mysterious in the book, Fire & Blood, and that continued in the TV show, until now. In "The Treasons at Tumbleton," we learn that she had actually been at Harrenhal during Aegon's Conquest, and was the mother of at least one of King Harren Hoare's children. As she explains to Aemond Targaryen:

"When the dragon Balerion burned this place, it was to end Lord Harren's line. But his line was not so easily ended. A child, a boy, lived on. Burned terribly, but alive. His mother would have given anything to save him. She summoned Maesters from across the Seven Kingdoms, but to no avail. So, she turned to older cures. She uncovered incantations more ancient than the land. She treated with things that lived in the forest. But none of it could unmake what dragonfire made. And when the boy was gone... she tr-- she tried to go with him. And that is when she learned the cost. ( sniffling ) She discovered then she was cursed. To live on, to remain within the bounds of the river kings of old, cursed for sharing in Harren's avarice. Stripped of her name, her title, her castle. And sentenced to serve every ha'penny lord who came here to rule it."

Hoare, known as Harren the Black, was the King of the Isles and Rivers at the beginning of Aegon's Conquest, which was later split into the Iron Islands and the riverlands. He was one of the kings who opposed the Targaryen invasion, fighting battles against them before eventually retreating inside the walls of Harrenhal. Though Aegon tried to parley with him and arrange terms of peace, Harren refused, even against the threat of dragonfire, saying: "I built in stone. Stone does not burn."

Harren was wrong. Aegon unleashed Balerion upon the castle, burning Harren and his children to death. This is one of the biggest sequences within the larger story, and so important (and so easy to imagine it being cinematic) that it absolutely must be in Aegon's Conquest. And if that's the case, then Alys should really be there as well. The implication, given she mentions name and title, is that she was Harren's wife, someone we previously knew nothing about. Given House of the Dragon's reveal, it'd now be odd if Alys didn't at least briefly appear in the story.

Of course, it is possible that the movie will purely stick to book canon, with the Alys reveal an invention for House of the Dragon only. But it does give an easy opportunity for connective tissue, as a moment that'd be a nice nod to fans of the show, but without needing that understanding for people just coming into the movie, since she wouldn't be a crucial character in this story.

Aegon's Conquest Will Definitely Feature One House Of The Dragon Character

Whether Alys Rivers returns in Aegon's Conquest remains to be seen, but there'll definitely be one familiar face from the show who appears in the movie: Aemond's dragon, Vhagar. She is the oldest dragon living in Westeros at the time of House of the Dragon, and the last remaining dragon from the Conquest, with the other two being Meraxes (flown by Rhaenys; she died 10 years after the Conquest) and Balerion (the largest dragon Westeros has ever seen; he was flown by Aegon himself, and died 94 years after the Conquest).

Vhagar, ridden by Visenya, was actually the youngest of the three dragons flown during the invasion, which will add a fun twist to House of the Dragon. We're used to her being the biggest, most ferocious beast alive, but she's going to be smaller in the movie than both Balerion and Meraxes. While including Alys isn't essential, Vhagar absolutely is. The she-dragon is one of the main weapons at the disposal of the Targaryens, and, alongside the other two, is instrumental in Aegon's Conquest being a success.

House Of The Dragon Has Changed Aegon's Conquest's Story

Aside from the potential inclusion of Alys Rivers, it'll be interesting to see if Aegon's Conquest follows the canon of House of the Dragon for an even bigger reason: the TV show's reveal of Aegon's Song of Ice and Fire dream. His prophecy, which also mentions the Prince That Was Promised, foretold of a coming darkness sweeping over the world out of the far North, and that only a Targaryen could unite the realm to defeat it.

In other words, Aegon saw the White Walkers, which recontextualizes the entire Conquest. This is not just an invasion born out of ambition and power, but from a belief that this is the only way to save the world. That doesn't make it entirely good or altruistic, since many people will die in its name, but it does change the story and Aegon as a person in a rather fundamental way. It's also something that came from Martin, which means there's a good chance it'll end up in the movie as well.

In fact, it's quite easy to imagine the movie actually depicting Aegon's dream on screen in some way. This could be at the very beginning of the movie, or perhaps something that is used as a narrative device later on - for instance, when he treats with Torrhen Stark, the King in the North, who is convinced to bend the knee to Aegon (which could be because he learns of the prophecy). It feels too big to ignore, and means House of the Dragon should have a major impact on Game of Thrones: Aegon's Conquest.