That is very likely to continue with House of the Dragon season 3, which is expected to release on HBO and Max sometime in 2026. Before then, though, there’s the release of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on George R.R. Martin’s The Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. Slated to hit HBO and Max in late 2025 (though no firm date has been announced), the prequel follows Ser Duncan the Tall, a hedge knight, and his squire, Egg, on their journeys around Westeros. Though it’s the same franchise and even has Targaryens, it’ll be a unique experience.
How Game Of Thrones’ Next Spinoff Will Be Very Different
This Won’t Be The Same As GOT Or House Of The Dragon
While Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon have their differences, especially once you dig into the specifics, they share many surface-level similarities and carry the same broad appeal. They’re stories that focus on the high lords and ladies of Westeros, and the political machinations and familial rivalries that come with that. They’re huge in scale, with multiple locations, big action set pieces, and even bigger stakes: the rule of the entire realm in House of the Dragon; the looming destruction of it in Game of Thrones.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is much smaller. At its heart, this is a story about what it means to be a knight and, because of that, what it means to be a hero, or simply a good person, in a world where that’s often complicated and without reward. It has strong themes underpinning it and certainly shouldn’t be dismissed as lesser, but it’s also a much lighter, breezier story (The Hedge Knight, the first novella, isn’t even 1/4 the length of A Game of Thrones, the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire).
While it has some great supporting characters, the story is very much centered on Dunk and Egg themselves.
Similarly, while it has some great supporting characters, the story is very much centered on Dunk and Egg themselves. Although each book moves around, it won’t be spanning multiple locations per season: season 1 will almost entirely be set during the tourney at Ashford, for example. Martin himself is aware of these differences, and in a recent interview with Collider, he said:
“I’ve seen Dunk and Egg, the first season, and it’s great, and now they’re working on the second season. Those are two characters were really special to me, and they’re unusual, those characters. They’re not what most people would expect in a fantasy story. It’s a little softer. It’s a little more humorous. I hope the audience will be open to that kind of change.”
A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Will Probably Have A Smaller Audience
It’ll Be Hard To Recapture The Same Hype As Game Of Thrones
Martin’s comments highlight the biggest possible barrier to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ success: whether audiences will be open to it or not. The franchise has 10 seasons that show its blend of politics, sex, and dragons works wonders, and it being sold as truly epic event television has been a key part of drawing audiences in. The new spinoff – and, to be clear, I really enjoy the novellas and everything about the show sounds great, so this is not a quality concern – won’t have that.
I think an apt comparison here might actually be Andor. Not in terms of tone or story, but what they are to their franchise. Andor has a strong case for being the best Star Wars TV show, and it comes from being different to so much of the franchise: no Jedi, no Sith, but a more grounded, human story. At the same time, Andor was one of the least-watched Star Wars shows on Disney+, with a much lower audience despite its high quality, because it wasn’t as obviously, overtly “Star Wars” and lacked the most recognizable franchise elements.
That’s the same position A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms could find itself in. That’s not to say people won’t watch it, but it’s going to have to fight to come close to matching House of the Dragon‘s audience share, simply because it’s not what people will expect, and perhaps not what they want (see: HOTD receiving complaints for being too boring, nothing happening, and lacking action).
The quality of the next Game of Thrones spinoff sounds incredibly high and all the noise about it is exciting, but I just really hope that translates to people tuning in. It sounds like it’ll deserve it and, while A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 seems a given, it’d be great for the show to get several more years beyond that (if, somewhat optimistically perhaps, Martin writes more novellas too).
