Like winter, HBO's latest Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, has finally come. It's an engaging, enjoyable tour into Westeros outside the large-scale battles for the Iron Throne viewers have seen so far. Thanks to smart casting, well-orchestrated surprises, and humor that lands, the ground-eye view of Westeros is a great one.
George R. R. Martin has essentially four public hobbies: Writing Game of Thrones novels, putting off finishing Game of Thrones novels, blogging about putting off finishing Game of Thrones novels, and expanding the world of Westeros in clever ways. One widely beloved set of expansions is his series of novellas entitled Tales of Dunk and Egg.
Tales of Dunk and Egg is a currently-running set of three novellas, The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight. They follow the nomadic hedge knight (think ronin), Dunk, later Ser Duncan the Tall, and his bald-headed, smart young squire Egg. The pair travels around, following the Westerosi chivalric code (essentially a gaunt Reacher, but with a squire and less self-esteem).
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is considerably different from the Thrones series that came before. Thrones follows a tumultuous multi-sided war for the Iron Throne (against the threat of the White Walkers), while House of the Dragon steps back in time to showcase the Targaryen civil war over Westeros' sharpest chair. While there is courtly intrigue afoot, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a refreshing look at a more everyday, ground-level set of crises, allowing for more comedy and drama.
Excellent Performances Provide a Fun, Grounded Exploration of Martin's World
When Dunk's (Peter Claffey) mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), dies, Dunk sets his sights on a jousting tournament to make a name for himself. He hesitantly picks up a determined young squire, the bald-headed but smart Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), who desperately wants to learn under his tutelage. As the tourney approaches, a fateful choice sends Dunk into a deadly, twisty situation that brings courtly drama home when Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett) rides into town.
Claffey excels as Dunk, a good-natured hedge knight who's average in all respects but two: he's rather tall and dead set on being honorable. In many parts of Westeros society, finding an honorable knight is like seeing a unicorn, and Claffey portrays the character with a self-effacing earnestness that we haven't seen much in the Thrones world, with backstabbers aplenty save for over-Stoic Starks. He feels fresh.
Ansell is a stellar cast in the role of Egg, a self-assured, too-smart-for-his-own-good boy who is ironically vexed by his lack of height, but just as earnestly hopes to be a good squire. The pair have a solid dynamic, the latter constantly pushing the aspirant Dunk to believe in himself, while the former tries to mentor the boy as best he can.
There isn't a weak link in the rest of the cast, who all serve their roles well. Bennett is memorably hateable as the sniveling Aerion Targeryen, an all-around jerk with a sociopathic streak (but seemingly not at the Joffrey/Ramsay Bolton level) who's a great foil. All the supporting players fit the realm in characters who duck out of the way when Lords and Ladies come through, giving life to a side of the Seven Kingdoms that feels new.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Brings Charm to Westeros
The series finds ample humor in Dunk's early exploits, in part because he's not that great a knight. He was found and tutored by Ser Arlan of Pennytree as a boy into a moderately skilled knight. His martial prowess is neither the worst nor anywhere near the best. He's memorably tall, but no "The Mountain that Rides," barely has a penny to his name, and isn't particularly smart or clever. Combined with his genuine good nature, it makes for a watchable season.
When the series' action escalates, it builds to real drama and adeptly executed swordplay. It builds quickly in intensity in the back half, culminating in a notable finale and introducing viewers to a number of engaging characters. Although the series is only six episodes long, it manages to pack quite a bit in. That said, though we are dealing with novellas and not Martin’s characteristic thousand-page novels, it is an enjoyable enough series that the lack of extra episodes in a season is lamentable.
Given that one episode takes fans back to Dunk‘s tutelage, we only get to enjoy five episodes with these characters before it’s over, dramatically highlighting ways that the old days of 20+ episode seasons were superior. It's transparently clear that there’s much of this world that is unexplored, and though this series is still solid, it's threadbare in parts. Nonetheless, it's a charming new exploration into this rich fantasy world, and HBO won't have Aegon their faces (so sorry for the pun) despite its brevity.
Knight feels fresh by showing new corridors of Westeros while introducing us to perhaps the kingdom‘s last good man. It’s also good to know that there are more novellas and adventures to be had, given how quickly six episodes run by. The forerunner forays into the Thrones world were full of high drama with Eros and Thanatos aplenty, but A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms provides something that was often fleeting in the series so far: heart and charm. Westeros is better for it, thanks to a solid series debut, anchored by a pair of solid central performances.
Final Rating: 8/10
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres January 18, 2026, on HBO and HBO Max.
