A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Will Introduce the Best Missing GOT House – but Not Until Season 4

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms puts a unique spin on the Game of Thrones franchise, not just in terms of tone and scale, but where the show puts its focus. The POV character is Dunk, an orphan from the slums of Flea Bottom, rather than a member of Westeros’ nobility. However, several notable families are still featured: House Targaryen, of course, has a heavy presence throughout, but the likes of Baratheon, Lannister, Tyrell, Tully, and more, all of whom had major parts to play in Thrones, are involved to varying degrees.

The biggest and best house from Game of Thrones that isn’t in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is House Stark, who are more isolated away in the North. Given Winterfell’s location, compared with the tourney at Ashford, which is in in the Reach, it’s hardly an event worthy of a trip that would take several weeks. As well as that, most areas of the North don’t have knights, as they tend to follow the Old Gods rather than the Faith of the Seven, so on the whole their absence makes sense – but Dunk and Egg will eventually meet the Starks.

House Stark’s Future In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Explained

Although only three have been published, George R.R. Martin has plans for as many as 12 Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. He hasn’t revealed the outlines for too many of these, but one he has was given the working title The She-Wolves of Winterfell. This was, at one point, intended to be the fourth book in the series, though another, The Village Hero (set in the riverlands), could end up coming before it. But if this is still Martin’s next story, then it would form the basis of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 4, should HBO decide to take it that far (and hopefully they will!).

The She-Wolves in question are a group of mothers and grandmothers from the North: it’s expected one of them will be Lady Lorra Royce, the wife of the current Lord of Winterfell, Beron Stark, along with the widows of other former Stark lords. This is actually setup by The Mystery Knight, the third Dunk and Egg book, as Dunk mentions on a couple of occasions that they plan on heading North to Winterfell, in order to serve Beron, who is preparing to fight against Dagon Greyjoy (a battle that will unite the Starks and the Lannisters).

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What seems more likely to be the story, though, is that Dunk and Egg arrive after the fighting. Martin reportedly mentioned back in 2006 that he had plans for a story involving Beron who had been mortally wounded in the battle with the Greyjoys, and thus the story could be about a succession crisis, which Dunk and Egg end up embroiled in. This makes more sense, really, given the working title and the focus on the formidable women, and more fitting of a Dunk and Egg tale than some epic battle with the Greyjoys.

With this, there is the potential for one familiar Game of Thrones character to appear: Old Nan. She’s around 100 years old in Thrones Season 1, and so would be alive at this time. What’s more, in A Dance with Dragons, Bran Stark has a vision of a tall knight kissing a young woman at Winterfell, which is commonly speculated to be Dunk and Old (Young?) Nan, even leading to theories that Hodor could be a descendent of him. That’s something A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 4 could actually confirm (or deny).

Will House Stark Be The Focus Of Other Game Of Thrones Spinoffs?

Game of Thrones was a complex, layered tale with a huge roster of characters, but at its core it was the story of House Stark. They were the clearest heroes we had to root for, and the story started and ended with the Stark children. And yet, despite that, they’ve largely been absent as HBO has expanded its franchise. They’ve only briefly featured in House of the Dragon so far and, while they do have a bigger role to play in the Dance of the Dragons, they won’t be the main characters. Likewise, most seasons of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms won’t include the either.

Several other spinoffs are in various stages of development, including a Game of Thrones movie, but most aren’t Stark-centric. Aegon’s Conquest is another that’ll focus on the Targaryens, the Sea Snake is about Corlys Velaryon, and 10,000 Ships is about Princess Nymeria of the Rhoynar. However, House Stark could still return in a Game of Thrones sequel. A Jon Snow spinoff was in the works, and the idea may be revisited, while HBO is also exploring a possible Arya Stark show, following her adventures to find what’s West of Westeros. If that comes off, then the Starks will be coming back in a big way.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 2 will release on HBO and HBO Max in 2027. All six episodes of Season 1 are now streaming on HBO Max.

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