Why Seven Kingdoms Might Actually Save The Game Of Thrones Universe

This January, HBO will debut a new show set in the Game of Thrones universe: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas by George R.R. Martin. All signs point to it being the pick-up this beleaguered franchise needs.

It’s a badly needed change of pace

Lighter and brighter (but still bloody)

Game of Thrones was defined by its complicated plots, sky-high stakes, and layered characters. The cast was massive; it was one of those shows you watched for the ensemble. The spinoff show House of the Dragon, which is also coming back next year, aims for a similar tone. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which is set some hundred years before Game of Thrones, includes some terrific characters but sheds almost everything else. The story is very simple: a newly minted knight named Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) wants to make a name for himself, so he travels to the town of Ashford to participate in a tourney. He teams up with a precocious young boy named Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) who serves as his squire, and together the two try to make a buck.

There are no White Walkers. There are no dragons. Ser Duncan, or Dunk, isn’t a member of the nobility; in fact, he’s so poor he uses a length of rope for a belt. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Ira Parker said that the story will never be told from the perspective of the upper class, a stark change from the other two shows, where almost every character is a member of the nobility. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms doesn’t even have a theme song, just a simple title card at the start of every episode.

So that’s what A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms doesn’t have. In its place, we’ll get a warmer, gentler story with a lot of heart and humor, which you can see in the trailer. Honestly, all the heavy tragedy in House of the Dragon has started to wear, so something a little brighter and bubblier will make for a perfect tonic.

It will actually stay true to the books

No need for George R.R. Martin to complain this time

Credit: HBO Max

That said, I don’t want to undersell the drama. The Dunk and Egg novellas may be the closest Martin ever came to writing a feel-good story set in Westeros, but it’s still Westeros: even if we’re not hanging out around them as much, members of the upper class will still be making life difficult for the peasants, and blood will be spilled. There’s one character I’m particularly looking forward to seeing onscreen: Prince Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett), a member of Westeros’ first family who I am sure that people are going to loathe with a passion, at least if the show sticks to the source material.

And it looks like it will. Last year, George R.R. Martin made waves when he publicly criticized House of the Dragon for deviating markedly from his book Fire & Blood, to the point where HBO actually had to issue a statement smoothing things over. But he’s said nothing but wonderful things about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and recently appeared on a panel at NYCC with the cast and crew. “What you see is gonna be very similar to what I wrote,” he said.

And it’s about time someone working on one of these shows wakes up and realizes that Martin’s books are the best thing about them. Game of Thrones was at its best when it was following Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books closely, and only really started to come under fire when it ran out of source material to adapt. The first season of House of the Dragon got rave reviews from fans and critics, but the second strayed from the book and got much lower marks.

I’m not saying that every adaptation needs to follow the source material to the letter, but when you’re working with writing as good as George R.R. Martin’s, why wouldn’t you want to try? With A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, even the details are right. For instance, Martin has complained in the past (in a light-hearted way) about the dragons on Targaryen banners having four legs instead of two on TV; in his books, dragons only have two legs. But what do we see when a Targaryen banner slashes across the screen in the trailer for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms? Two-legged dragons. And if they’re paying attention to the little things, they’ll get the big things right as well.

HBO doesn’t want fans to wait forever between seasons

This tale is tall but short

One of the things killing modern tentpole dramas is the long waits fans have to suffer between seasons. Some enormous shows like Stranger Things can get away with it, but for shows like House of the Dragon, waits of two years or more can’t help but dampen interest.

We don’t know for sure, but it looks like HBO is trying to avoid this problem with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Martin has written three Dunk and Egg novellas, and HBO executive Francesca Orsi shared with Deadline that they’re considering filming the next two seasons back to back.

Because A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms doesn’t have the grand scale of Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, filming new seasons should be a lot easier. Assuming the show gets renewed, I have every hope we won’t be waiting an eternity between seasons 1 and 2.

You can’t go home again

And I think the show will get renewed. Early buzz is excellent, and the show has both the Game of Thrones connection and the HBO branding to draw people in. If it makes a good first impression—and it will—people will want more.

That said, I don’t think it will return the Game of Thrones universe to the place of prominence it enjoyed in the 2010s. I don’t think anything can; that was a once-in-a-generation TV phenomenon. But it will remind people why they loved Westeros in the first place, in a way none of them expected.

The series premiere of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms streams on HBO Max on January 18. In the meantime, there are plenty of other interesting things to check out on the streaming service.