The New ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff Is Already Making Major Changes to the Franchise

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Like many fantasy stories adapted for the screen, *Game of Thrones* is incredibly detailed and complex. George R.R. Martin built a rich history spanning centuries, with a vast world including two continents and numerous kingdoms. The story is filled with countless families, symbols, alliances, and battles. In fact, Martin has spent years creating extra books – such as *The World of Ice and Fire* – to expand on this world instead of finishing the next book in the main series, *The Winds of Winter*. One of these books, *Fire & Blood*, which tells the story of the Targaryen family, served as the basis for the HBO prequel series, *House of the Dragon*.

Between working on the massive *Game of Thrones* series, George R.R. Martin wrote a smaller, three-part collection of stories. That collection, called *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms*, is what HBO’s new show is based on. Now, while it *is* set in the world of Westeros, fitting in the timeline between *House of the Dragon* and *Game of Thrones*, don’t go in expecting more of the same epic scale. And honestly? That might just be a welcome change of pace.

‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Will Be Modest, Just Like Its Protagonist


HBO

The books in the *A Song of Ice and Fire* series, along with the *Game of Thrones* and *House of the Dragon* TV shows, are epic fantasy stories told from many different characters’ perspectives. There’s so much complexity that some feel the show’s creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, couldn’t fully resolve all the storylines in eight seasons. This might also explain why George R.R. Martin hasn’t finished writing the sixth and seventh books yet. The first spin-off, *House of the Dragon*, is very similar to *Game of Thrones* – it mainly focuses on the Targaryen family – so much so that the creators didn’t even create a new opening theme song.

The printed version, *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms*, has a much tighter focus. The three novellas – *The Hedge Knight*, *The Sworn Sword*, and *The Mystery Knight* – primarily follow Ser Duncan the Tall, known as Dunk. Dunk is remarkably ordinary, making him a relatable character in the world of Westeros. He meets a boy called Egg early in the stories, and together they go on a series of smaller-scale adventures. The stories don’t revolve around the Iron Throne or dragons, which is why they’re often called the Tales of Dunk and Egg.

HBO’s upcoming series based on *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms* will premiere in January 2026, and it will look and feel different from its predecessor in one key way: there won’t be an opening credits sequence with Ramin Djawadi’s familiar music. Instead, each episode will simply begin with a title card using a medieval-style font. Showrunner Ira Parker explained to *Entertainment Weekly* that this decision was made to reflect the personality of the main character, Dunk. According to Parker, Dunk is a straightforward and unpretentious person, and the show’s creators wanted every detail—including the opening sequence—to reflect that simplicity.

Unlike the typical hour-long to hour-and-twenty-minute episodes of *Game of Thrones*, each of the six parts of *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms* will be around 30 minutes long. This new series is structured similarly to Disney+’s *The Mandalorian*, with each episode featuring a self-contained adventure within a larger story. Like *The Mandalorian*, it focuses on a lone hero and their companion, and is smaller in scope, which could make it a great starting point for new viewers of the *Game of Thrones* universe—just as *The Mandalorian* brought many new fans to *Star Wars*. However, longtime fans will still find plenty of familiar details and connections to the original *Thrones* series.

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2025-10-12 03:43