Games of Thrones author George R. R. Martin has hinted at more sequels in the works ahead of the prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms bowing on HBO Max Jan. 18.
“There are more stories to tell about Dunk and Egg and their education and what’s going to befall them in future years,” Martin told the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms companion video podcast that launched Monday with a pre-premiere episode. The new podcast series from HBO Max is hosted by Jason Concepcion and Greta Johnsen and features interviews with the series creatives, cast and crew, with Martin, the mind behind the book and TV phenomenon Game of Thrones, as the first guest.
For A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO Max adapted The Hedge Knight, one of the Dunk and Egg novellas Martin wrote as self-contained stories with original characters and storylines. “That was one of the best decisions I ever made as a writer,” Martin tells the podcast hosts about The Hedge Knight, which has led to a different and more down-to-earth storytelling tone for the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms series.
Dexter Sol Ansell, Peter Claffey in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Steffan Hill/HBO
Where Game of Thrones the HBO series was a fantasy juggernaut with sweeping shots of warrior hordes and big twists, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is told from a single viewpoint as Sir Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg wander through Westeros while the Targaryen dynasty rules the Iron Throne.
“When I began Game of Thrones, I had seven or eight viewpoint characters in the first one and I’m intercutting between them. And in later volumes in the series, I add even more characters. So it’s a real mosaic of different people seeing the same events in different ways, having a different interpretation on them. But writing a short story or a novella in this case, where you’re focused on one character and you’re just seeing the story through him, that’s a different sort of thing and can be very powerful,” Martin tells Concepcion and Johnsen.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has lords and nobles sauntering around, but mostly centers on common people. “I wanted to tell a story that focused to some extent on the small folk as I call them, on the people who are not lords, they were not contending, they weren’t even going to get the iron throne unless everybody else in Westeros died,” Martin explains.
Peter Claffey (left) and Dexter Sol Ansell in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Steffan Hill/HBO
Capturing the story of a wandering hedge knight in Dunk, or a warrior without land or wealth, and his squire, a young boy, will steer Game of Thrones fans away from the medieval world of chivalrous knights protecting the weak and the innocent to a more realistic portrayal of knighthood.
“The knights were soldiers in service to their lords. And they’re like killing machines,” Martin says about the prequel that was filmed in parts of Northern Ireland. To get fans without a firm handle on Westeros history up to speed, Concepcion and Johnsen get behind microphones to guide fans on a journey with Dunk and Egg to a jousting tournament at Ashford Meadow.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will see Peter Claffey, starring as the titular Ser Duncan the Tall, aka Dunk, and Dexter Sol Ansell, who portrays Dunk’s squire, Prince Aegon Targaryen, also known as Egg, anchoring a six-episode first season, with the HBO series already renewed for a second season.
The official description for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms reads: “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.”
Other castmembers include Edward Ashley as Ser Steffon Fossoway, Youssef Kerkour as Steely Pate, Daniel Monks as Ser Manfred Dondarrion, Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Plummer, Danny Webb as Ser Arlan of Pennytree and Henry Ashton as Daeron Targaryen. Watch the podcast trailer, below.