Game Of Thrones fans have become used to waiting a long time for new additions to the popular George R.R. Martin franchise. While a new season of House of the Dragon is coming, along with the slow-approaching promise of a new book from Martin, fans will first get to see a brand new spinoff arrive in the form of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight early in 2026. As well as a first look at the new series, based on Martin’s novella “The Hedge Knight”, showrunner Ira Parker has shared that the series will not follow either of the previous shows in one way.
Parker spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the latest show to take viewers back into Martin’s vast world, but those expecting something as epic in scale as Thrones will be a little disappointed. Even the opening title sequence will be the first to abandon a dramatic flare. Parker said:
“All decisions came down to Dunk, trying to channel the type of person he is into every aspect of this show, even the title sequence. The title sequences on the original [Game of Thrones] and House of Dragon are big and epic and incredible. Ramin Djawadi’s score is orchestral and large and beautiful. That’s not really Dunk’s M.O. He’s plain and he’s simple and he’s to-the-point. He doesn’t have a lot of flash to him.”
What We Know About ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
Season 1 of the series adapts Martin’s novella “The Hedge Knight,” following Irish newcomer Peter Claffey’s Dunk as he self-knights after his master’s death and heads to the Ashford Meadow tournamernt with little more than a wooden shield, a rope-wrapped hilt, and three horses he treats like confidants. On his travels, he picks up bald, diminutive “Egg” (Dexter Sol Ansell) as his squire, and the pair come into contact with smiths, puppeteers, and barmaids rather than the scheming lords and ladies of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set well after the events of House of the Dragon, around 50 years after the last dragon has died. According to Parker, magic is not something that is high on anyone’s agenda during the period the show is set in, making it a more grounded series, and one that will give a much different perception of Martin’s Seven Kingdoms than has been seen before. Parker said:
“This could basically be 14th century Britain. This is hard nose, grind it out, gritty, medieval knights, cold with a really light, hopeful touch. It’s a wonderful place to be. We are ground up in this series, we are starting right at the bottom. We’re not with the lords and ladies, the kings and queens.
“To find a totally different version of this world that everybody seems to know so well was very, very appealing, The fact that we live in this world, though, where magic once existed is very interesting to me. This is the ground and the grass that has seen dragons and dragon fire before. So everything is just like how the world is, but a little stranger, a little different.”
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Owen Harris
- Writers
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George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker
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Peter Claffey
Ser Duncan ‘Dunk’ the Tall
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Finn Bennett
Aerion Targaryen
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Bertie Carvel
Baelor Targaryen
