Game of Thrones viewers weren’t quite sure what to expect in terms of quality from House of the Dragon. That hesitation was understandable, given the uneven treatment of the flagship show’s final season, which moved past George R.R. Martin’s source material and, to be purely speculative, could actually be the reason why Winds of Winter might never be finished.
That’s not worth dwelling on at the moment, however. Let’s talk about how HotD‘s success has inspired HBO to develop more prequel series.
HotD is, of course, based upon Martin’s Fire and Blood book, which begins around 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones. There are a handful of other spinoffs that are being tossed around to varying degrees, but the next show to air (and this is still a working title) will be A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight.
This show is in early stages at the moment with HotD holding the main focus while prepping for a Summer 2004 Season 2 premiere. However, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is happening (Martin has revealed that HBO greenlit a full first season already), unlike that Bloodmoon prequel, which only saw a pilot before being scrapped. Let’s talk about what we know so far:
Plot
This prequel series will be based upon Martin’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms trilogy of novellas (The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight) that take place about 100 years before GoT. In other words, the books are prequels to Martin’s five existing A Song of Ice and Fire novels. That saga, as noted above, might never be fully written, so everyone might as well enjoy the prequels for TV material as much as possible.
In the timeline of these novellas, Targaryens still sit upon the Iron Throne although the dragons have (for the time being) faded away following that atrocious civil war. The main focus shall revolve around the courageous Ser Duncan the Tall and his much less-tall square, Egg (real name unknown). Hence the “Dunk & Egg” nickname that sticks with these books while following the predecessors to Tyrion Lannister and Podrick Payne.
However, Martin has insisted that he does not want “Dunk & Egg” to be anywhere in the title of the series because he believes that it sounds too much like Beavis and Butt-Head. No really, that’s what Martin wrote on his non-blog:
“[N]o, it won’t be called TALES OF DUNK & EGG or THE ADVENTURES OF DUNK & EGG or DUNK & EGG or anything along those lines. I love Dunk and I love Egg, and I know that fans refer to my novellas as “the Dunk & Egg stories,” sure, but there are millions of people out there who do not know the stories and the title needs to intrigue them too. If you don’t know the characters, DUNK & EGG sounds like a sitcom. LAVERNE & SHIRLEY. ABBOTT & COSTELLO. BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD. So, no. We want “knight” in the title. Knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories.
Fair enough. Do note that he does not overrule any Thelma & Louise or Turner & Hooch associations, and take that as you will.
Martin also revealed that this series was one of the two prequels that he very much wanted to happen, and he pitched Dunk & Egg along with Dance of the Dragons, which obviously turned into House of the Dragon. He also confirmed that “Nymeria show is still in development. So is the Sea Snake show.” And he claimed to have been “working with writers” on the latter earlier the year, so hmm. He hopes that these will also be green lighted yet doesn’t mention reports of a Jon Snow series. There’s some GRRM-based animation apparently in the works as well.
Cast
We’ve got no freaking idea on who will be cast in this series as Ser Duncan the Tall. Physically speaking, Tom Hopper or Chris Hemsworth could work. Former Khal Drogo Jason Momoa surely cannot reenter GRRM’s world without distracting people. Momoa also might not fit the vibe, but we are having fun at the moment, so perhaps think about it a little bit. He makes everything better.
Release Date
Your guess is as good as ours, but it would seem that HBO wouldn’t want to wait forever to push this out.
Trailer
If only! Stay tuned.
We don’t know when A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight will come to HBO, but once we do, then you will know as well.