It's been almost seven years since HBO's Game of Thrones aired its final episode, but the fantasy world of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" narrative hasn't been long from the zeitgeist — or TV screens. Amidst constant questions of just when GRRM is going to get around to finishing those novels already, a number of Game of Thrones sequels, prequels, and assorted spinoffs have been discussed, commissioned, shot, cancelled, and — at least in some cases — made to air. The first, House of the Dragon, came along three years after Game of Thrones bowed. The second is 2026's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a story with a new batch of characters set at a different point in time from its predecessor shows but still in the familiar world of Westeros.
So feed your steed an apple, strap on a swordbelt that's maybe a little too small, and prepare to make a name for yourself in the lists: this is the Heist Guide to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms!
What's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms all about?
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms tells the tales of Dunk and Egg and their adventures across Westeros. The tall, somewhat-simple minded but big-hearted Dunk is a Hedge Knight — a knight who hasn't been taken into service by a specific noble House or Lord, and thus travels the countryside as a sort of knight-for-hire (lacking a steady gig, they often end up sleeping in hedges, hence the name). While many, especially in the upper classes, look down their noses at hedge knights, some consider them the purest expression of the kind of chivalric values Westerosi knights are meant to espouse.
The diminutive, bald-headed Egg, meanwhile, is Dunk's squire, a young boy with a secret who takes a shine to Dunk. Compared to Dunk, he is quick-witted, worldly, and in modern parlance, a bit of a snark. But like Dunk, Egg possesses deep courage and a good heart.
The duo first meet and team-up on their way to a tournament at Ashford Meadow, where the recently-knighted Dunk hopes to make enough of an impression that a lord will take him into their service. While there, Dunk and Egg cross paths with a host of memorable characters, from Targaryen princess Baelor Breakspear and Aerion Brightflame to Lyonel Baratheon the Laughing Storm to the Fossoway cousins and the two Ser Humphreys.
The first six-episode season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will chronicle the first meeting of Dunk and Egg and the events of the Ashford Meadow tourney.
Is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms based on an existing story?
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is an adaptation of George R.R Martin's "Dunk and Egg" stories, which first saw print from 1998 to 2010 as novellas in various short story collections. As of now, there are now three such stories: "The Hedge Knight," "The Sworn Sword," and "The Mystery Knight." The first season of the show adapts the first of those novellas, "The Hedge Knight," with subsequent seasons (the show has already been renewed for a second season) planning to adapt the subsequent stories. All three "Dunk and Egg" stories can be read in one collected volume, from which the TV series takes its name. If books with pictures are more your speed, all three have received a graphic novel adaptation as well.
Martin has spoken for years about writing additional "Dunk and Egg" stories. The fourth story is purportedly titled "The She-Wolves of Winterfell" and would feature Dunk and Egg having an adventure in the North region of Westeros overseen by the Stark family. A fifth story has the working title "The Village Hero" and would be set in the Riverlands (home of the haunted castle Harrenhal, as well as the Tullys and the traitorous Freys). Martin has said he envisions the stories continuing to follow Dunk and Egg throughout the full run of their lives. However, Martin — who is famously still working on the next book in his original "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga even though the TV series adapting it bowed almost seven years ago — is the first to admit he won't be publishing any additional "Dunk and Egg" stories at least until he's completed The Winds of Winter.
(Also, it's worth noting that the series shares a name with the second episode of Game of Thrones' final season, a.k.a. the universally-accepted best episode of that season).
How is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms different from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon?
First and foremost, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set at an entirely different point in the history of Westeros than either of the series which preceded it. "The Hedge Knight" begins in 209 AC ("After the Conquest" i.e. after the first Targaryen King, Aegon the Conqueror, arrived in Westeros and formed the Seven Kingdoms, which is counted as "Year 1"). That sets it roughly 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones and over a hundred years after House of the Dragons begins in earnest (circa 110 AC).
That gap in time between A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and House of the Dragon is significant. Whereas House of the Dragon begins with the ruling Targaryen dynasty at the height of its power, the ensuing civil war it chronicles wreaks havoc on the titular house, notably when it comes to the population of the dragons which help enforce Targaryen power and prestige. As was also true when Game of Thrones began, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes place in a dragon-less world, albeit one in which the memories of living dragons and the highs of Targaryen power are a little closer to living memory. Relatedly (because in Westeros, dragons and magic go hand-in-hand), A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is also distinctly less magical/overtly fantastical, something showrunner Ira Parker has said makes it much closer to being a depiction of "regular" 14th Century England than either of its predecessors.
Along those lines, Parker has said A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms continues the novellas' "ground up" approach to life in Westeros. That is, while plenty of high lords and royal princes cross paths with the main characters in the course of their adventures, these are stories told from the perspective of the lower classes. Missing is the court intrigue and political scheming — the "great conversations in elegant rooms" — that is such a pivotal element of both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. Dunk is principally concerned with where his next meal will come from and personal honor, not personal enrichment and who will sit upon the Iron Throne, and that remains true throughout all the published "Dunk and Egg" stories.
Also, unlike the sprawling interconnected narratives of Game of Thrones or the history-as-narrative structure of House of the Dragon, each season-long tale in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will be entirely self-contained, meaning the tale being adapted by the TV creators already has a beginning, middle and end — something Game of Thrones lacked, to its ultimate dismay.
Should A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms prove a large enough success that it lasts more than the three seasons' worth of (self-contained) stories currently available to adapt (and safely assuming this show outpaces Martin's writing output like Game of Thrones did), it will be closer to Game of Thrones' fate. But even then, key events in the lives and the ultimate fates of Dunk and Egg have been established by Martin in his various non-fictional writings about his fictional world, so future A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms writers, in crafting any original stories, will have better guide marks than the Game of Thrones writers did.
More structurally, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episodes will be shorter (closer to 30 minutes than 60) than either Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, each season will only be six episodes, and there will be no opening theme song (and while elements of Ramin Djawadi's scores for the previous shows will be used, Dan Romer is composing the music for this series.
Can A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms be watched fresh, without watching any of the other shows?
To each their own, of course, but A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms should offer a new-viewer-friendly intro to the world of Westeros. Taking place entirely in its own time frame, no characters from either of the previous series will appear in it (technically, there's two characters who are alive both in the time of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Game of Thrones, but one doesn't appear in any of the "Dunk and Egg" stories and the other won't show up until/if a third season is made).
The "ground up" focus means new viewers won't need a PhD in Westerosi politics to keep track of the plot and characters. All you really need to know is that the ruling family are the Targaryens, their hold on power is still strong but weaker than it has historically been, they sometimes have silvery-white hair and typically operate at one of two speeds: "decent" and "monstrously dickish" — and the lack of dragons and other more fantastical elements lowers the barrier of entry to this fantasy show for anyone who might have been turned off by those elements in the previous show.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres on Sunday, Jan. 18 on HBO and streams on HBO Max.
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