HBO Is Making New 'Game of Thrones' 'Harry Potter', 'The Conjuring', 'IT' and 'The Penguin' Shows

Overview

When Game of Thrones came to an end, HBO filled that gap by making prequel House of the Dragon, and also exploring a heap more spinoffs as well. Plenty have been rumoured, including focusing on Jon Snow and devoting a second new series to the Targaryens — but A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is the next to get the official go-ahead.

The American cable network and source of plenty of Binge, Foxtel and Neon's programming Down Under is announcement mode, revealing that it's renaming its own streaming service from HBO Max to Max — a platform that isn't available in Australia or New Zealand as yet — and also dropping details about a range of new shows that folks can look forward to watching on it. We hope you like TV versions of hit movies, too, because HBO's upcoming slate goes big on well-known properties. Harry Potter, The Conjuring, IT, The Batman: they're all covered in one way or another.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is a prequel, and will boast George RR Martin as a writer and executive producer. It comes to the screen from the novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg, and has been rumoured for a few years now. The story follows knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg as they wander Westeros a century before the events of GoT, when the Targaryens remain on the Iron Throne and everyone still remembers dragons. Yes, there's an odd-couple vibe.

The first-ever Harry Potter TV series has also been whispered about for years, with that chatter getting louder recently. Bringing the Wizarding World to the small screen, it will run for a decade and cover all of the original books — a tome per season, diving into more detail than the movies were able to.

Newly revealed is a drama series set in The Conjuring universe — a supernatural big-screen realm that's already hefty, given that it spans The Conjuring, Annabelle, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, The Curse of the Weeping Woman, Annabelle Comes Home and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and will score The Nun 2 later in 2023. There's no word yet on what it'll cover, other than that it'll continue the story established in the features. Australian filmmaker James Wan, who helmed the first two The Conjuring movies, may executive produce.

The American network is also making IT prequel series Welcome to Derry, which it announced earlier in 2023. Plus, it also has a spinoff from The Batman, aka The Penguin, on the way for its 2024 lineup — with Colin Farrell reprising the show's titular role.

And, arriving in May, there's the animated Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, a prequel to the 80s movies that heads back to 1920s Shanghai and the Wing family's first meeting with Gizmo.

Clearly, the answer to how HBO will cope with not just the OG Game of Thrones ending, but the looming post-Succession void, is leaning into other well-known properties. There's been no word of any spinoffs, prequels or sequels to the Roy family saga — even after its latest episode, and the fact that this is the acclaimed series' final season — however, based on the current announcements, don't be surprised if HBO gives it a try down the line.

Most of the above HBO shows don't have exact release dates yet — we'll update you when further details are announced.

Top image: courtesy of Max.