Another Game of Thrones Prequel Is on Its Way

Fantasy author George R. R. Martin has confirmed that a brand new prequel to Game of Thrones is underway―this time coming not to the silver screen, but to the stage.

The Game of Thrones scribe has teamed up with the Royal Shakespeare Company to bring a new play titled Game of Thrones: The Mad King, which takes place roughly ten years before the events of the show's first season.

'The Mad King' Is The First 'Game of Thrones' Stage Play

Game of Thrones has already spawned two prequel series—House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms—but The Mad King will be the first time the fantasy series makes it to the stage.

The show's title refers to Aerys II Targaryen, the previous King of Westeros before Robert Baratheon usurped the throne shortly before the events of Game of Thrones in a historic rebellion.

The play's official synopsis reads: "Enter the world before. A long winter thaws in Harrenhal, and spring is promised. At a lavish banquet on the eve of a jousting tournament, lovers meet and revellers speculate about who will contend.

"But in the shadows, amid growing unease at the blood-thirsty actions of the realm’s merciless Mad King, dissenters from his inner circle anxiously advance a treasonous plot. Far away, the drums of battle sound."

It sounds like The Mad King will almost certainly center around Robert's Rebellion, the enormous war effort that finally ended the Targaryen dynasty and forced Aerys' two surviving children (Daenerys and Viserys) into exile.

The Tourney at Harrenhal is often cited as the instigating event of the rebellion, as Aerys' son Rhaegar famously chose Lyanna Stark—Robert's wife—as the new "Queen of Love and Beauty" after winning the joust rather than his own wife, Elia Martell.

The Mad King will run at the RSC's Stratform-upon-Avon theater later this year, with further details arriving in the coming months. Priority booking for RSC members will go on sale on April 14.