Some franchises are harder to stop than others, and the world of Westeros would possibly rank proper on the very high of the record. Many a viewer swore off “Recreation of Thrones” by the top of its remaining season, dismissing what was as soon as the largest and most talked-about collection on the face of the Earth. Properly, not solely did “Home of the Dragon” show these indignant phrases to be largely empty, bringing us proper again to this universe stuffed with a few of the richest world-building particulars of any property at present streaming. However “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” the latest spin-off/prequel collection based mostly on creator George R.R. Martin’s work, is now set to make lightning strike thrice.
You would virtually really feel the thrill within the air as Martin, co-creator and showrunner Ira Parks, and primary leads Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell descended upon New York Comedian Con. The primary main occasion of the weeklong pop-culture celebration centered squarely on “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” packed to the brim with followers anxious for any and all data they might get their palms on in New York Metropolis’s (solely barely humbler) model of Corridor H. I used to be lucky sufficient to be in attendance on behalf of /Movie as HBO unveiled the primary official footage from the upcoming collection, however that was solely the opening salvo in what turned out to be a completely entertaining and considerably chaotic panel — highlighted by enjoyable detours akin to Claffey unintentionally stoking a “The Lord of the Rings” and “Recreation of Thrones” rivalry (he is a giant fan of each, don’t be concerned), our collective amazement at youngster actor Ansell filming the collection on the age of 9(!) and carrying on press tasks at 11, and the conspicuous absence of any speak in regards to the standing of Martin’s penultimate novel “The Winds of Winter.”
What they did speak about, nonetheless, may take up a number of articles crammed with absolutely the nerdiest of particulars. As a substitute, we have narrowed it all the way down to the 5 coolest takeaways we had from the NYCC panel. And now, our watch begins … once more.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was created to answer one Recreation of Thrones grievance
Let’s simply say that there are a number of the explanation why it is best to have “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” in your radar. Not solely is George R.R. Martin utterly jazzed in regards to the newest adaptation of his work, which he reiterated on a number of events through the panel. (He even went as far as to proclaim “The Hedge Knight,” the primary brief story in his “Dunk and Egg” novella and the idea for season 1 of this collection, as “among the finest issues I’ve ever performed.”) And it isn’t simply that this collection comprises an consideration to element that can find yourself profitable over even essentially the most hard-to-please member of the fanbase. Ser Duncan the Tall himself, actor Peter Claffey, praised the “badass” armor his character sports activities through the course of the story and famous that it was a “carbon-copy” recreation of the illustrations from the novella. No, arguably essentially the most thrilling purpose to tune in has to do with addressing one of many greatest complaints about Martin’s unique e book.
In accordance with Martin himself, the very best a part of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has to do with its concentrate on the smallfolk of the dominion. When he revealed the preliminary e book in his “A Track of Ice and Hearth” saga, titled “A Recreation of Thrones,” Martin recalled that the harshest critique revolved round his option to observe royal households, princes, and different highborn people highly effective sufficient to sway kings and armies:
“One of many issues that one of many [critics] mentioned was that, ‘Here is one other fantasy and we get to listen to extra about kingdoms and lords […] no one ever writes in regards to the widespread folks,’ the smallfolk as I name them. And that resonated with me. We do hearken to a few of the critics, in the event that they know what they’re speaking about, and that’s true.”
So after we find yourself following figures akin to lowborn hedge knight Duncan the Tall and the diminutive, easy-to-overlook squire Egg, we’ll be witnessing one thing even “Recreation of Thrones” could not pull off.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms took on one main problem from George R.R. Martin
For these unfamiliar with the plot of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” the collection finally ends up incorporating a big jousting event identified far and huge in Westeros as the Tourney at Ashford Meadow. When Ser Duncan the Tall enlists within the festivities, desirous to show his expertise as a real knight, neither he nor his loyal sidekick Egg may think about simply how their presence would change the course of historical past in Westeros. To do correct justice to this occasion, nonetheless, George R.R. Martin knew that the artistic crew had a troublesome problem on their palms — and, naturally, he determined to boost the bar to the very best degree potential.
Martin defined to the NYCC crowd that we have seen tournaments depicted in “Recreation of Thrones” earlier than, however the one on this collection wanted to take issues additional than we have ever seen earlier than. His earlier gold commonplace, 1952’s “Ivanhoe” starring Elizabeth Taylor and directed by Richard Thorpe, set a sky-high bar for Martin. However, as he defined:
“I set [showrunner Ira Parks and the creative team] a problem, which I believe Ira has delivered […] I mentioned, ‘Let’s do the very best jousting sequence that has ever been placed on movie. A modest little problem for Ira and his crew.”
By all accounts, it was mission completed in that regard … however this was removed from the final of the present’s greatest obstacles. In accordance with Pars, the trickiest side to nail in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was the tone. As he described it, the supply materials leans exhausting into being “pretty and candy and [filled with] a lot hope,” but in addition comprises “actually brutal components of this world that we have all come to like in Westeros, the place something can occur.” Problem accepted.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms differs from Recreation of Thrones and Home of the Dragon in a single main method
With any spin-off, it isn’t essentially about recapturing what’s been performed within the franchise earlier than — it is about what new components it brings to the forefront now. The artistic crew behind “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” feels this stress acutely, however do not mistake that for shrinking from the problem. One key level emphasised time and again through the panel was that Ira Parks and his writing crew are desirous to forge their very own id, separate and distinct from both “Recreation of Thrones” or “Home of the Dragon.” Essentially the most rapid method to take action? The motion. In accordance with Parks, this manifested by way of taking how Martin wrote battle scenes and different tense moments within the novella and translating them to the display by way of Duncan’s viewpoint:
“Our guiding gentle on this present was to observe Duncan and let this character, by way of tone and POV within the mud and the dust, we wish the viewers to really feel what he feels. We need to be with him as intently as potential. This is not motion sequences which are reduce up very quickly, it isn’t huge, sprawling “Recreation of Thrones” that we have come to know and love. That is shut and that is intimate and that is brutal and that is horrible. That is what it might have been prefer to be going through this.”
Even that wasn’t so simple as it might sound, nonetheless. Longtime readers of George R.R. Martin know that his “A Track of Ice and Hearth” novels have been instructed by way of strict point-of-view characters, with every chapter instructed by way of the eyes of particular people with out ever leaving their perspective. Martin confronted an analogous determination in “The Hedge Knight” over whether or not to change forwards and backwards between his two primary characters. As a substitute, he opted to stay with Ser Duncan all through all of the motion, and the HBO collection adopted go well with. However viewers will discover at the least one acquainted side carried over from “Recreation of Thrones” — Martin confirmed the penultimate fifth episode will characteristic the biggest battle of the season, persevering with the identical development first established within the father or mother collection.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will go deeper in a number of key methods
As a lot as “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has to stay of a bit with the remainder of the universe established in “Recreation of Thrones,” it would be a mistake to view the spin-off as nothing however mere spectacle. Duncan may not seem to be the deepest or most complex character at first blush, however the would-be knight harbors all kinds of insecurities about his lot in life. Born within the slums of King’s Touchdown, the capital metropolis seen so prominently in each the unique collection and “Home of the Dragon,” Duncan is consistently attempting to place his lowborn origins behind him and ascend to the heights of a landed knight. However as Peter Claffey defined, that is a lot simpler mentioned than performed:
“Clearly, he is attempting to be essentially the most respectable, honorable knight he presumably may be. It is humorous, as a result of he tries to place away or extinguish that facet of him that he desires to neglect, that younger boy in Fleabottom simply attempting to outlive nearly like some half-human, half-dog roaming the streets. And I believe he is consistently attempting to extinguish that and neglect about that. Nevertheless it serves him to know that that’s who he’s in sure conditions in direction of the top of our story, and it serves him to have that persona, that never-give-up and fight-tooth-and-nail attribute. He will get to kind of settle for that — it is one huge, violent remedy session.”
To not be outdone, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” will apparently save a few of its deepest materials for final. In one of many uncommon moments of the creatives letting slip extra particular particulars from the top of the season, George R.R. Martin hinted at a finale that can take a web page proper out of “The Lord of the Rings.” Evaluating it to “The Scouring of the Shire” chapter from the top of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Return of the King,” Martin teased that the episode (his favourite of the season) will equally deal really feel like an epilogue, coping with the aftermath of a giant battle and the way it essentially modifications our characters … whereas additionally establishing future seasons to return.
The actors behind Dunk and Egg bonded onscreen and off
Who says Westeros cannot be a little bit healthful once in a while? By its very nature, as a two-hander story between Duncan and Egg, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” retains its central dynamic within the foreground of each episode. So it ought to come as no shock that this fictional relationship ended up mixing into actual life, as effectively. HBO enacted a rigorous casting course of to land on each Peter Claffey and relative newcomer Dexter Sol Ansell for the principle roles, even when they are not completely good mirrors of their on-page counterparts. (George R.R. Martin joked in regards to the casting of “brief man” Claffey particularly, whose imposing peak of 6 foot 6 nonetheless pales compared to the almost 7-foot-tall Duncan within the novellas.)
However even the hilarious bodily discrepancy between Claffey and Ansell solely ended up fueling their real-world bond. To decompress between grueling filming days, each on set and on location within the rain and dust of Northern Eire, the inseparable pair would hit up native cities to play all the things from arcade video games to “Mario Kart” — the latter of which Claffey good-naturedly claimed to have change into proficient in kicking Ansell’s you-know-what on many events. For Claffey, he had a primary row seat to watching reality and fiction blur collectively because the actors developed alongside their characters:
“The idea that you simply’re working with a 9-year-old is over inside half an hour of a day on set, and also you understand you are working with a 25-year-old in an 11-year-old’s physique. He is extremely mature and I am actually in awe […] I do suppose Dunk appears as much as Egg loads, and appears to him for steerage. And I discover myself doing the very same factor with Dexter, for certain.”
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” premieres on HBO January 18, 2026.
