Warning! The following contains spoilers for A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Season 1 finale. Stream it with an HBO Max subscription and read at your own risk!
A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is not only my favorite series of the 2026 TV schedule thus far, but it had effectively shaken off my fear of all Game of Thrones -adjacent shows. I say had because I'm back to being worried about the series, and it's all thanks to that post-credits scene I recently learned more about.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all the humor that the latest series provides, but maybe the show should be a bit more wary going forward. For those confused on how that ties into the post-credits scene, or for anyone who missed it entirely, let's break it all down.
What Happened In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Post Credit Scene
Ser Duncan is left at the end to journey out on his own, after Maekar seemingly rejected his offer to take on Egg as a squire only if they could travel the kingdoms and he lived amongst the common folk. As he's making his way out of town, he's surprised by Egg, who tells him that he's to be his squire, and they make their way out of town and have a hilarious conversation about how there are actually nine kingdoms in Westeros as opposed to seven.
When they cut to Maekar, who has packed up all his things and is heading back to King's Landing after the tournament. He appears frustrated, and rides his horse up and down the line of people traveling away with things. We learn he's looking for Egg and has no idea where he's gone off to.
Surprise, Egg did the exact same thing he did initially, and ran away from home to adventure with Ser Duncan the Tall. It's funny his plan wasn't anymore complex than that, but completely on brand for a child, and hilarious that none of the other adults were suspicious or saw it coming.
How Egg's Decision Differs From What Happened In The Novella
When it comes to The Hedge Knight, it's never explicitly said what goes on in the conversation between Aegon and his father, Maekar. As such, Ira Parker thought it would be "fair game," as he said to Collider, to interpret the story that Egg simply didn't obtain his father's permission, and just ran off again as he did the first time.
All this to say, the twist wasn't explicitly different from The Hedge Knight, but there wasn't a scene in which Maekar was angry and upset, wondering where Egg ran off to. This opens up an opportunity for the Game of Thrones spinoff to explore some new ground that the novella didn't approach, assuming that's something its showrunner wants to do.
What Showrunner Ira Parker Said About The Twist
As fun as the scene was, I couldn't help but be disappointed after reading what showrunner Ira Parker had to say about the moment. In a statement that may surprise viewers, he said that the scene was meant to be a joke to inject some humor into the finale, rather than a cliffhanger to tease the path ahead:
It was initially meant as just a bit of a joke, but then people started telling me afterwards that, 'No, it's a huge cliffhanger, man. You have to go and address this.' And I was just like, 'Oh, okay. Yeah. I suppose.' I don't want it to distract from the main story they were telling in season 2.
I agree with the others who talked to Parker, because I certainly saw it as a cliffhanger to give us a taste of what's on the way. In my mind, Egg just ran off with Ser Duncan again, and we've already heard from Maekar how important his son is to him. Are we to expect a Targaryen to just shrug and go along his way and assume that his child is safe?
I wouldn't count on that, given all we know about Targaryens. Because of the family's proclivity to violence and the power of the Crown, that scene held a bit more weight than the end card that changed the show's title. I would imagine that, like me, there were a lot of other viewers who assumed we're going to see some fallout for Egg deciding to skip town on his family yet again.
Why I Think A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Made A Big Mistake
Not only does A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms have no explicit intention to reference that post-credits scene further, but doing so would come at the cost of what else it has to adapt for Season 2. Ira Parker mentioned that he doesn't want that scene to overshadow the other exciting things that are on the way, which again is laid out in the stories.
I Enjoy A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms More Than House Of The Dragon Thanks To Two Key Differences
This is where I start to get nervous. On the one hand, I want a resolution to how the Targaryens reacted to Ser Duncan running off with Egg once again. On the other hand, I've heard from many that Season 1 of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms was very faithful to the novella, with the episodes receiving a lot of acclaim for their accuracy.
Though I haven't read The Hedge Knight or the other novellas for myself, I can only assume that the adaptation faithfully recreating it means the story is on the right track. As such, I can't help but feel like it's a mistake to inject some bigger plotline that wasn't necessarily a part of the original stories into Season 2, but it also feels like Pandora's Box has already been opened.
As a counter-argument, there are only three novellas that cover Dunk and Egg's tales, and Ira Parker has expressed interest in wanting to take the series beyond those stories. As leery as I am about the series going beyond George R.R. Martin's published content, I'm not going to sit here and act like I want the series to end as soon as the novellas are finished. Perhaps a side story unique to the novella will be a good litmus test as to whether Parker is up for the challenge in telling original stories with the characters, and we can judge from there.
Ultimately, we'll see whether it was a good or bad decision when A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms returns to HBO and HBO Max for Season 2. I'll be counting down the days until its return, though I am happy we have House of the Dragon Season 3 to look forward to in the meantime.
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