By HBO’s successful fantasy series Game of Thrones concluded its eight-year run 5 years ago, and has since released the first two seasons of House of the Dragon, a prequel series focused on the Targaryen family’s brutal Dance of the Dragons. But this isn’t the only Thrones spinoff deep in development at HBO, as the studio shifts gears to kick off production of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
This new series will follow the adventures of Dunk and Egg, as covered in author George R. R. Martin’s short stories. With filming already under way and several key cast members revealed, we’ve decided to gather all the information revealed so far in this article.
Last updated: July 16, 2024
What is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms about?
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a series based on short stories written by George R. R. Martin, often referred to as “The Tales of Dunk and Egg”. So far, three short stories have been released, and the first one was titled The Hedge Knight. All three short stories were later collected in a single book released in 2015, titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
The HBO series’ first season is reportedly now titled A Knight of Seven Kingdoms, changed from A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, referring both to the title of the collection and that of the first short story, which the first season is expected to cover. Future seasons may adjust the subtitle to match the next short stories.
The official logline of the show describes the story as follows:
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.
To be more precise regarding the timeline, the story in The Hedge Knight occurs approximately 90 years before the beginning of Game of Thrones and about 70 years after the beginning of the Dance of the Dragons, as depicted in House of the Dragon‘s second season.
Who are the main characters?
As you can guess from the official logline, and as readers of Martin’s short stories already know, the main characters of Knight of the Seven Kingdom and of potential follow-up seasons are the Knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk) and his squire Aegon V Targaryen (Egg). Character descriptions and cast members for Dunk and Egg are described below. The main cast was revealed in an article published by Variety.
Ser Duncan the Tall, commonly called Dunk, was born in the King’s Landing slums of Flea Bottom. Later, he became the squire of the hedge knight Ser Arlan Pennytree, until he became the titular hedge knight. As his title suggests, Dunk is very tall at almost seven feet. For a hedge knight, Dunk is rather humble and does not consider himself very smart, often recalling his Ser Arlan’s mockery “Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall”. Coming from the bottom of the social ladder, Dunk is destined to climb to the top and become a Knight of the Kingsguard but, first, he will have to meet his squire.
Dunk will be portrayed by Peter Claffey, an up-and-coming young actor who recently had a large role in the show Wreck, where he portrayed Cormac Kelly. Before that, Claffey had brief roles in Bad Sisters and Harry Wild. As for his height, he clocks in at 195 centimeters or 6’4″, which is a great match for Dunk’s description in the books.
Aegon “the Unlikely” Targaryen is the fifth of his family line to share the name of the Conqueror who united Westeros. As the fourth son of a fourth son, he was so far removed in the line of succession that he never planned, expected, or hoped to sit on the Iron Throne. Instead, at the young age of 9, Aegon wanted to travel the Seven Kingdoms as the humble squire to a hedge knight. To avoid being treated like royalty, Aegon would shave his head bald to remove the iconic silver Targaryen hair and refer to himself as Egg. Life would lead him to a certain hedge knight, Duncan the Tall, and the two would then become inseparable.
Egg will be portrayed by young actor Dexter Sol Ansell, who has already fostered an impressive resume for such a young age. Ansell has starred in shows The Midwitch Cuckoos as well as Hullraisers and has recently appeared in the prequel film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. At 10 years old, Ansell is very close to Egg’s age in the Hedge Knight short story.
Who else has joined the cast?
As already mentioned, Dunk and Egg are the main characters who will be the focus of the series throughout its entire run. However, there are other key characters in the show, and some of these cast members have already been confirmed in a report by Variety.
Finn Bennett (True Detective, Domina) will portray Prince Aerion Targaryen, also known as “Aerion the Monstrous”, although he prefers the monicker Aerion Brightflame. Aerion is the second son of King Maekar I Targaryen and the older brother of our protagonist Aegon V “Egg” Targaryen. If his “monstrous” nickname didn’t give it away, we can confirm that Aerion will be an antagonist to our heroes in the show.
Bertie Carvel (The Crown, Dalgliesh) will portray Prince Baelor Targaryen, also known as “Baelor Breakspear”. Baelor is the firstborn son and heir of King Daeron II Targaryen. On top of that, he also serves as the Hand of the King. Considered uniquely kind and generous among nobles and Targaryen specifically, Baelor will befriend our heroes.
Tanzyn Crawford (Servant, Tiny Beautiful Things) portrays Tanselle, a Dornish puppeteer who was so abnormally tall she gained the nickname “Tanselle Too Tall”. Tanselle will be harassed by a particularly vile individual until Ser Duncan the Tall interferes.
Daniel Ings (The Gentlemen, The Winter King) will portray the knight Ser Lyonel Baratheon, also known as “The Laughing Storm”. Besides being a knight, Lionel is also the heir of House Baratheon, set to inherit the Lord’s throne in Storm’s End. Lyonel will participate in the Ashford Tourney, where he will meet our heroes.
Sam Spruell (Fargo, Doctor Who) will portray Prince Maekar Targaryen, the fourth son of the ruling King Daeron II Targaryen and father of our protagonist Aegon V “Egg” Targaryen. Maekar is described as stern and uncharismatic, the opposite of his brother Baelor.
Suspected cast
That’s it for confirmed cast members, but we also have a list of suspected cast members who seem to be involved in the filming of the HBO series. Due to their unconfirmed status, we do not know what their potential roles might be.
The first of the lot is Shaun Thomas, known for his extensive role as Gerry Roberts in Emmerdale Farm. Thomas has also appeared in shows such as Ladhood, Four Lives, and The Long Shadow.
The second suspected cast member is Henry Ashton, who had a two-episode role on the historical fantasy Outlander. Ashton has most recently appeared in the series My Lady Jane and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
The third actor in our list of suspected cast members is J.B. Moore, known for his appearances in Cocaine Bear and Sex Education. Most recently, Moore has appeared in Apple’s Masters of the Air, a spiritual successor to the classic Band of Brothers.
Another veteran of Masters of the Air and likely cast member in the Game of Thrones Oscar Morgan. Morgan has also appeared in shows such as The Crown, Gotham Knights, Warren, and Millie Inbetween.
Lastly, we have suspected cast member Desmond Eastwood. A veteran of shows such as Blood, Normal People, and Vikings, Eastwood has most recently appeared in the series Blue Lights.
Who are the main crew members?
The showrunner for A Knight of the Seven Kingdom: The Hedge Knight is House of the Dragon‘s Ira Parker, who wrote the fourth episode of Season 1. A team of four writers will join Parker, the most exciting of whom is series author George R. R. Martin, whose last TV episode was in Season 4 of Game of Thrones. Other known writers are Annie Julia Wyman (The Chair, Tokyo Vice), Aziza Barnes (Snowfall, Teenage Bounty Hunters), Hiram Martinez (The Last Ship, Snowfall).
House of the Dragon‘s showrunner Ryan Condal will serve as producer alongside series author Martin and his manager Vince Gerardis. Gerardis’ assistant Ti Mikkel is also attached as a producer. Besides Martin, Wyman, Barnes, and Martinez are listed as producers and writers.
As for the show’s directors, there are two of them, and the first is Owen Harris. Harris is famous for directing a fan-favorite episode of Black Mirror titled “San Junipero”, as well as other episodes of the Netflix anthology series. Harris also directed episodes of shows such as Misfits, Troy: Fall of a City, and Brave New World. Harris will direct three of the show’s six episodes.
The show’s second and final director is Sarah Adina Smith. Adina Smith is known for directing episodes in shows such as Legion, Hannah, and Looking for Alaska. Most recently, Adina Smith directed two episodes of the mini-series Lessons in Chemistry starring Brie Larson. Like Harris, she will direct three of the show’s six episodes.
In addition to these directors and writers, we would be remiss not to mention the show’s production designer Tom McCullagh. McCullagh is a veteran of several HBO series, including the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. Outside of Westeros, McCullagh has also worked on the science-fiction series Raised by Wolves and many other television series and films.
Where is the filming going on?
Filming for Knight of the Seven Kingdom: The Hedge Knight began in June, 2024, under the production title “Sweetfoot”, named after Dunk’s trusted horse in Northern Ireland, where Game of Thrones was also filmed. The production is currently expected to last until mid-September. The show will be 6 episodes long.
There are already some photos and videos from the filming in Northern Ireland, particularly Mourne Mountains.
Other external filming locations include Myra Castle (Ashford Castle, Flea Bottom), Glenarm Castle Estate (Ashford Meadows) and Tollymore Forest Park (Crownlands). The base of operations is once again Titanic Studios, which hosted Game of Thrones for a whole decade.
When will the series be released?
Regarding the release date, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav has revealed that the series will premiere in Late 2025, probably between the second and third seasons of House of the Dragon. This means there will be no gap year for Thrones content.
Later, GRRM posted on his Not a Blog, mentioning “Early 2025”, but later edited the word “early” out.
As always, we will follow the filming of A Knight of the Seven Kingdom as closely as we can, so expect more casting news and behind-the-scenes details in the coming months.
