House of the Dragon season 3 is now on the horizon after a beloved season 1 and an enjoyable season 2, despite the latter’s dip in quality. House of the Dragon was only the first in a long line of planned Game of Thrones spin-offs, with another coming in 2026.
With this second spin-off in mind for next year, we are only four months away from a Game of Thrones milestone that will have been nine years in waiting.
A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Will Be The First Time The Tyrells Have Appeared In 9 Years
Margaery, Olenna, and Loras of House Tyrell standing in Game of Thrones
The other Game of Thrones spin-off that will be released in 2026 is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a show based on Martin’s novellas featured in the Tales of Dunk and Egg series. Martin compiled these novellas into a single book in 2015, also titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, explaining the name of the upcoming HBO series.
In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a major Game of Thrones milestone will take place thanks to the return of House Tyrell. House Tyrell is one of the nine major houses in the Game of Thrones franchise, yet they have not appeared in any project since Olenna Tyrell died in Game of Thrones season 7, episode 3 in 2017.
Olenna Tyrell smirking in Game of Thrones.
Although the Tyrells have been mentioned by name in House of the Dragon on a few occasions, no member of the house has appeared on-screen in any capacity. Therefore, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will mark the return of the Tyrell family after nine years, by the time it airs on HBO in 2026.
This will primarily come in the form of Lord Leo “Longthorn” Tyrell. Steve Wall will play Leo Tyrell in the show, with the character serving as a participant in the tourney that is the basis for the first novella in the series, The Hedge Knight.
While it is worth noting that the Tyrells will not have as influential a role as they did in the original Game of Thrones series via characters like Mace, Olenna, Margaery, and Loras, this role in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms means the great house will still make its return to Westeros after nine years’ absence.
Why House Tyrell Is Absent From House Of The Dragon
Custom image by Debanjana Chowdhury
House of the Dragon has not featured the Tyrells in either of its two seasons thus far, and the third will only continue this trend. The reason for this stems from the central conflict at the heart of House of the Dragon: The Dance of Dragons.
The series surrounds a civil war between the Targaryen family, one half led by Rhaenyra Targaryen, the Blacks, and the other led by Aegon II Targaryen, the Greens. This war splits the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros in two, with different houses, bannermen, and other powerful players in the realm choosing sides between the warring Targaryen factions.
In The Dance of Dragons, the Tyrells remained entirely neutral. The Lord of House Tyrell at the time of House of the Dragon was only an infant, and his mother, the Regent of Highgarden, could not see a benefit to the family aligning themselves with either side of the war.
This explains why the Tyrells have not appeared in House of the Dragon, and why they will remain absent in future seasons. This means that the next major moments from a Tyrell in Game of Thrones‘ vast timeline will come in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, further making the return of the great house in the show that much more important.
A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms’ Families Will Start Looking More Like GOT’s Dynamics
Margery Tyrell from Game of Thrones
Aside from having Tyrell family members back on screen, the return of the family is important for bridging the gap between House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones. As alluded to, the former takes place when the Targaryen family was at the height of its power, chronicling their downfall via the civil war.
In Game of Thrones, every legitimate Targaryen save for Daenerys and Viserys is dead, with the former of the two eventually reinstating their power in Westeros by the series’ end. This means that House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones have very different power dynamics where the central families are concerned.
Due to the Targaryen dynasty in House of the Dragon, other houses like Baratheon, Stark, and Tyrell, who hold much more power in Game of Thrones, are less prominent. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, as mentioned, will start to bridge that gap.
The family dynamics shown in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will begin to align more with those in Game of Thrones. While the Targaryens will still be in power in the show, it takes place 90 years before Game of Thrones, with House of the Dragon taking place over 100 years before that.
Therefore, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ timeline will mean more of the houses that were on the periphery of power in House of the Dragon will start becoming more prominent. Tyrell is one such family, and, while again, they will not be as powerful as they were in Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will set up their rise.
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