House of the Dragons is currently going strong with an abundance of dragons and drama after debuting the second out of four seasons. Already, however, HBO is hard at work on the next Game of Thrones prequel that will help fill the gap between Targaryen seasons. We’re not talking about the possible show about Aegon the Conqueror or George R.R. Martin’s decision to also develop Ten Thousand Ships while hoping for a series green light there.
Nope, we are here to anticipate A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a full-fledged, Westeros-based series on the way to home theaters in 2025. You might have also heard of this show mentioned as The Hedge Knight, but HBO has formally dispensed with that working title in favor of the more attractive version mentioned above. Let’s get down to business on what we can expect from this series and discuss where it occurs in the GRRM timeline.
Plot
First came Game of Thrones, at least on TV. That juggernaut actually takes place last in relation to the rest of HBO’s other Westeros projects. HotD, of course, tells the self-dooming history of the Targaryen dynasty and begins about 300 years before A Song of Fire and Ice books (the basis of the GoT series). Whereas A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes place only about 100 years before GoT begins. That doesn’t mean that the Targaryens are extinct, clearly. They are still sort-of in power even without the overwhelming majority of their dragons, and a few of them will be hanging around onscreen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, as we will soon detail a bit more.
This series will largely revolve around “Dunk and Egg” (the collective nickname for the two main characters), and this first season will begin to portray the first novella in this series, The Hedge Knight (which GRRM followed with The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight). The leading knight in question shall be known to the Westeros people as Ser Duncan the Tall, who is part of that still-chivalrous variety of knights that existed before Ser Criston Cole was getting busy instead of doing his duties as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is currently in the thick of filming in Belfast, Ireland. George R.R. Martin is credited as both writer and executive producer alongside Ira Parker and House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal.
HBO has also provided an official spin off description:
A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros … a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.
Who is the “Egg”? That’s an alias, and if you don’t wish to find out his real identity (which is already relatively well known, among both book readers and Westeros fans in general), do not read further.
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Egg — who will appear with a hairless head, so that nobody can see the telltale blonde — is actually Aegon V Targaryen and a descendant of Aegon the Conqueror and House of the Dragon‘s Aegon II. He will be entirely insistent upon becoming Duncan’s squire, and obviously, he will get what he wants. The casting of Dunk and Egg feels pretty perfect, too.
Cast
As seen ^^^ above, the towering Ser Duncan the Tall lives up to his subtitle. In GRRM’s source material, he’s nearly seven feet tall, and he will be portrayed by Peter Claffey, who is 6’5″ in height. Meanwhile, Egg will be portrayed by Dexter Sol Ansell, who also recently portrayed the young Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. You can see Dexter losing his own blonde locks to prepare for filming right over here.
Additional cast members include Finn Bennett as Aerion Targaryen, Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen, Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen, Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle, and Daniel Ings as Ser Lyonel Barotheon.
Release Date
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will premiere in 2025, presumably with more HoTD to follow in 2026.
Trailer
While we await a teaser or trailer, here’s a little Westeros history lesson. Yep, George R.R. Martin has been answering questions for Dunk and Egg obsessives since at least 2019: