News Game of Thrones Game of Thrones Is Getting a Prequel Stage Play About the Tourney at Harrenhal Game of Thrones: The Mad King will premiere at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on February 18, 2026 Screenshot: HBO Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: HBO The Game of Thrones franchise is heading to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Today, we got confirmation that a play called Game of Thrones: The Mad King will premiere at Stratford-upon-Avon this summer. The production will center on the tourney at Harrenhal that led to Robert’s Rebellion, an event that took place over a decade before HBO’s Game of Thrones begins and features characters from that series, specifically Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon, and Jaime Lannister. Here’s the official description: A long winter thaws in Harrenhal, and spring is promised. At a lavish banquet on the eve of a jousting tournament, lovers meet and revelers 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. Family bonds, ancient prophecies, and the sacred line of succession will be tested in a dangerous campaign for power. Who will survive? Who will rise? Wars aren’t won by those with most cause, but whose story’s best told. The play is based on George R.R. Martin’s novels, was written by Duncan Macmillan, and will be directed by Dominic Cooke. “When I first wrote Game of Thrones, I never imagined that it would be anything other than a book,” Martin said in a statement. “It was a place for my imagination to exist without limits. To my great surprise, it was adapted for a series and viewers have been able to enter the world of my imagination through the medium of television. For my work to now be adapted for the stage is something I did not expect but welcome with great enthusiasm and excitement. Theatre offers something unique. A place for mine and the audience’s imagination to meet and hopefully create something magical.” Royal Shakespeare Company artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey added, “When we first read Duncan’s script, it was immediately apparent how this epic cycle of warring families sits in a continuum with Shakespeare’s history cycles. So it feels like an exciting and apposite marriage between the RSC and Game of Thrones universe.” Tickets for the summer production go on sale on April 14 for Royal Shakespeare Company members. Public booking will be announced in April 2026. [end-mark] The post Game of Thrones Is Getting a Prequel Stage Play About the Tourney at Harrenhal appeared first on Reactor.