When A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms hits HBO in January, don’t expect a show with the same look and feel as Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. Though their stories are set generations apart, they have some notable similarities—starting with the fact that both follow characters hellbent on getting control of the Iron Throne. But Westeros is a big place. Most of the people living there don’t have royal blood or a claim to one of the great houses. That’s where A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms comes in. While some of its players will be Westerosi bigwigs, the main focus is Ser Duncan the Tall, a guy from Flea Bottom with some cobbled-together armor and limitless ambition… and not much else.
Dunk falls in the mud and doesn’t have a second set of clothes to change into. He gets insulted regularly and usually can’t do anything about it. He gnaws sustenance from dried-out hunks of meat and dreams about being able to afford a hot meal. He decides to enter a tournament partially to make a name for himself, but also because if he wins any money, he’ll have 100 percent more money than he has right now. He’s a hand-to-mouth kind of guy
Representing A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms at an HBO Max event, as reported in Variety, showrunner Ira Parker explained that the series—which takes place 70-ish years after the events of House of the Dragon but still around 100 years before Game of Thrones—takes many of its cues from its delightfully imperfect main character.
“He’s the sole POV of the book and we have channelled everything from our music to our titles to our cinematography and our action and also our budget is a reflection of Dunk, who comes from nothing, he has very little. He is a simple, unpolished human being and so are we,” Parker said. “There are some wonderful, big, polished, huge, epic shows within this world that can be enjoyed, and we are not that. I hope the audiences will forgive us for some of our most unpolished-y parts; we really tried our best, and that’s what Dunk’s doing. He’s going to this place that’s unfamiliar to him and he’s probably way in over his head and he’s probably giving it his best shot.”
Good thing there’s no need for CG dragons during this particular moment in Westeros history! Parker also teased the show as being “a little bit of a lighter, more friendly path to Westeros,” while also cautioning that “good and bad people die,” which sounds par for the course in the Seven Kingdoms.
The other bit of news from the Variety piece is that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will begin filming its previously announced second season next week in Ireland, aiming for a 2027 release on HBO. Season one arrives January 18 and runs for six episodes with a weekly rollout.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
English (US) ·