Plenty of HBO shows got the world talking over the years, but few were quite as popular as Game of Thrones. That series was quintessential water cooler talk, even if the Game of Thrones finale is still a sore point for some fans. But we've returned to Westeros thanks to the prequel House of the Dragon, and the forthcoming series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. I was already hyped to stream the latter project with my HBO Max subscription, although author George R.R. Martin's recent comments have me even more invested.
What we know about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is limited, but some of our questions will be revealed when it premiers on HBO. HOTD renewed my interest in the franchise, and I'm eager to see how this new series will further expand the world. While appearing on the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms podcast, Martin highligted a big change for the new series, saying:
I wanted to tell a story that focused to some extent on the small folk as I call them, on the people who are not lords, they were not contending, they weren’t even going to get the Iron Throne unless everybody else in Westeros died.
Honestly, I'm sold. While we got some spotlight on the Small Folk in House of the Dragon (refresh on who owns what HOTD dragon here) the non-royals are going to be a major focus on AKOTSK. These new characters won't be competing to get on the Iron Throne, and are instead the regular folks who are usually affected by these bloody regime changes. That includes Ser Duncan the Tall, who is the titular character that will be played by actor Peter Claffey.
This isn't to say that there won't be royals in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. In fact, a Targaryen will serve as Duncan's squire. But the story isn't about warring families fighting for power and influence. In the same appearance, Martin also spoke about how the source material for the book to screen adaptation was a departure from the Game of Thrones books. In his words:
When I began Game of Thrones, I had seven or eight viewpoint characters in the first one and I’m intercutting between them. And in later volumes in the series, I add even more characters. So it’s a real mosaic of different people seeing the same events in different ways, having a different interpretation on them. But writing a short story or a novella in this case, where you’re focused on one character and you’re just seeing the story through him, that’s a different sort of thing and can be very powerful.
Of course, we'll have to wait and see A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to see just how singularly focused it's narrative will be. I have to assume that Ser Duncan won't be the only character that we follow, but it'll seemingly be a more contained narrative. And after hearing Martin's comments I'm even more eager to see the Game of Thrones prequel on my small screen.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will premiere on January 18th as part of the 2026 TV schedule. And it sounds like longtime fans like me are going to be treated to a very different take on Westeros.
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