'Game of Thrones' Finale Could Inspire a Drogon Spinoff Sequel in Valyria

One of the biggest questions to come out of the Game of Thrones series finale Sunday night had everything to do with the ultimate fate of Drogon, Daenerys Targaryen’s last living dragon. He got a tragic “ride off into the sunset” moment midway through the episode, and his adventures in the future could provide an opportunity for some kind of spinoff series set in the same universe that leaves Westeros and the Starks behind to explore Old Valyria.

Full spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 ahead.

At one point, five Game of Thrones spinoff series were in development, but by April 2019, GoT co-executive producer Bryan Cogman’s prequel series was canceled when he signed a huge deal with Amazon. There’s still another prequel series currently in production from writer Jane Goldman that takes place at the end of Westeros’ “Age of Heroes” and is expected to be on the creation of the White Walkers in some capacity.

What of the remaining spinoffs, sequels, and prequels? The Game of Thrones series finale presented a few opportunities for spinoffs set after the action wraps, and one of the more interesting ones could follow Drogon’s journey east.

In the finale, after Jon Snow kills Daenerys Targaryen by stabbing her in the heart, Drogon flies into the throne room and destroys the Iron Throne with dragon fire (as if he knew what really killed Dany was her ambitions for the Throne rather than Jon Snow’s knife). Then, Drogon picks up Dany’s dead body and flies away. To where, we don’t know for sure, but it’s probably to Valyria.

Months later, after Bran Stark has become king, one of his biggest concerns at his first-ever small council meeting is the location of Drogon. After all, as we saw in the attack on King’s Landing, the single dragon is a living and breathing weapon of mass destruction. “He was last spotted flying east toward —“ Samwell Tarly says before he’s cut off by Bronn: “The farther away, the better.”

There are a lot of places east of Westeros — pretty much everywhere Daenerys went for most of the series before she returned home — but the most likely destination for Drogon is Valyria.

Tyrion Lannister and Jorah Mormont saw Drogon fly overhead as they passed through Valyria, and this was enough for some fans to theorize that Drogon mated with another dragon and laid some eggs out there. That didn’t turn out to be true, but where else would he go?

“Perhaps I can find him,” Bran says at the small council meeting, referring to his powers as the Three-Eyed Raven. “Do carry on with the rest.”

This makes it seem like Bran only cares about finding Drogon, and he either doesn’t care about the more mundane affairs of state, or he knows his council is better equipped to handle these issues. Somehow, the Three-Eyed Raven can visit the wedding of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark with little more than a vague prompt, yet it’s a challenge for him to locate a single giant flying lizard.

Plot inconsistencies aside, these final notes about Drogon’s whereabouts imply that it’s important, but we’ve seen very little of Old Valyria outside of the Stone Men attacking Jorah and Tyrion.

The ancient Valyrians were humble shepherds that tamed dragons, and using their powers, they built up a great civilization that governed half the known world. Eventually, the Doom of Valyria destroyed the entire city through earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The Targaryens only survived because they’d already moved to Dragonstone, and from there, they conquered all of Westeros, forged the Iron Throne, and established the Seven Kingdoms under a united reign.

In some sense, Daenerys freaking out and destroying King’s Landing fulfills her ethos of “breaking the wheel” and utterly rejects Westeros as a home. Neither the Targaryens nor dragons were native to Westeros, so it makes sense that both should return to where they’re truly from — especially after Dany dies.

So what does a Drogon spinoff even look like? The “Appa’s Lost Days” episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender offers a good template for telling an emotional story about a flying creature that doesn’t speak, and Drogon could go on a similar adventure by himself. A legitimate spinoff series, however, would have to introduce other characters and likely present Drogon as a kind of villain or obstacle.

Perhaps Drogon returns to Valyria with Dany’s body and lays it to rest somewhere close to a civilization we’ve never heard of. These people would then have to deal with sharing their home with a dragon. Brand-new characters could try to tame Drogon and gradually learn the creature’s tragic history of fighting wars and losing its brothers and mother.

Other than an Arya spinoff series that follows her seafaring adventures exploring whatever’s west of Westeros, a series like this that follows Drogon would be the next most interesting story that might take place after the series. Only time will tell what really happens. We may never know for sure where Drogon flew.

Game of Thrones is now available to stream in its entirety on HBO.