The world of Westeros is coming back to HBO early in the 2026 TV schedule with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, once again based on source material from George R.R. Martin. Premiering on January 18 with stars Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall and Dexter Sol Ansell as young squire Egg, the new prequel is a fresh take on the Game of Thrones franchise with a lighter tone and shorter run time. That's not a bad thing for the author after his recent comments about House of the Dragon, with Claffey explaining how "happy" Martin was when visiting the set.
As he hinted in blog post timed to House of the Dragon Season 2 with its many changes from the Fire & Blood source material, George R.R. Martin became less involved as the series went on. In comparison, he has been openly praising A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for nearly a year now, and the new leading man weighed in on how the first of Martin's Dunk and Egg novellas was adapted. When I asked the actor what conversations he had with the author, Peter Claffey shared:
I'm not totally informed book-wise, but I do enjoy studying the lore, and I was a massive fan of the original series, but George really left us to our own devices. The first time I ever met him was a set visit when we were two or three weeks into shooting. He came on and he just seemed super happy. I didn't really want to be that person that's like, 'And what do we do here? How does he feel here? And how does this stuff [work] here?'
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set between House of the Dragon and the original series in the Game of Thrones timeline. There's definitely plenty of lore that could be – and was – folded into the first season, which is based on The Hedge Knight as the first of three novellas so far. Claffey went on to share one way that George R.R. Martin was heavily involved in the new show, although he didn't know that until well after he took on the role of Dunk:
[Martin] seemed to have been quite, I've found recently, probably quite involved in the casting process. He cares a lot about the story of The Hedge Knight, and I'm sure he wanted to find the right Dunk and the right Egg as well as everybody else, and the right Tanselle and all those people. I'm pretty sure through that taping process, which he must have observed, he was quite happy with how I was approaching things. And he was obviously very full of trust in Ira [Parker] and Owen [Harris] and let them make the decisions around the characters that he's created, just as I was. I trusted Ira and Owen and then our second block director, Sarah [Adina Smith].
One of the many ways in which A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sets itself apart from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon is a more focused POV, with Dunk and Egg central to the story as opposed to the vast families, sprawling noble houses, and political machinations of the two earlier series.
While there are still nobles from families like the Baratheons and Targaryens in the mix, there's no grand conflict like Team Black vs. Team Green in the six-episode first season, airing on HBO and streaming with an HBO Max subscription. Referring to working with Ira Parker as showrunner, Owen Harris as executive producer, Sarah Adina Smith as director, and himself as "quite a tight knit unit," Peter Claffey went on:
The main thing is that for the four of us, and for Dexter as well, it's all about sticking true to the novellas. I really dislike when novels and literature get corrupted by television and changed in all different shapes and forms. I think when somebody has created something, you have to stay true and respectful to that, and I think we've done that with this. And if I have any say in it, we’ll do that for sure with The Sworn Sword, and if we get to do The Mystery Knight, I want them to be the direct representations of the novellas. And I think George is incredibly happy and appreciative of that.
As Peter Claffey alluded, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has already been renewed for a second season, based on George R.R. Martin's The Sworn Sword and already in production. It remains to be seen if The Mystery Knight, the third novella, gets a season as well, but fans can already count on the show being "true and respectful" from the jump.
That's not to say that the new show is only enjoyable for readers of the novellas, and I can vouch for having a good time watching without knowing the lore back to front. The trailer, which struck me as having shades of A Knight's Tale to go along with Game of Thrones' world of Westeros, gives a taste of what to expect:
Tune in to HBO on Sunday, January 18 at 10 p.m. ET for the series premiere of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. With just six episodes, the season may fly by, so be sure to keep current on Sunday nights or soon after via HBO Max. The newest Game of Thrones spinoff will be followed by House of the Dragon Season 3 later this year. While there are more questions than answers about that show's return, I'm confident that viewers will get a lot more laughs out of Dunk and Egg than Team Black vs. Team Green.
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