2026 is set to be the biggest year yet for the Game of Thrones franchise as, for the very first time, HBO will air two shows set in Westeros. This summer will bring us House of the Dragon Season 3, but first up is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. This is a prequel series quite unlike the other two. While they very clearly share the same DNA – epic battles, political machinations, wars fought over the Iron Throne, and the fate of the realm at stake – this is smaller, playing like a comedic two-hander with its leads, Dunk and Egg (Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell).
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There are, of course, still some familiar elements: this remains a world with knights, noble lords, and tourneys, and one where the stakes may be smaller, but there’s still plenty of violence and bloodshed. And there are still Targaryens as well: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ cast of characters includes several members of the family, such as Baelor (the heir to the Iron Throne), Maekar, and the villain of the piece, Aerion. But unlike Daenerys or the Targaryens of House of the Dragon, they’re missing their biggest power: dragons.
Why There Are No Dragons in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms & How They Died Out
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 marks the franchise’s first season with any dragons whatsoever, but for good reason: they’re all dead. Game of Thrones takes place around 90 years later, and that saw Dany magically bringing dragons back into the world for the first time in almost 150 years, meaning the Targaryens have been without them for several generations by the time of Dunk and Egg’s story.
The Dance of the Dragons, the conflict seen in House of the Dragon, tears House Targaryen apart, killing several notable members, and it wipes out most of the dragons as well. Already, we’ve seen the likes of Arrax and Meleys killed by Vhagar, and as the civil war continues, more dragons will continue to die.
Indeed, only four remain once the Dance is over; a few more eggs do hatch, but they produced dragons quite small and sickly, who didn’t live long. The habit of keeping the beasts in the Dragonpit of King’s Landing had already stunted their growth through the generations, and this got worse with so few remaining. Eventually, in 153 AC – so 56 years before A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – the final ever dragon, described as being stunted and with withered wings, died.
There are also theories that the Maesters of the Citadel played a part in this, largely built around this quote from Archmaester Marwyn to Samwell Tarly in A Feast for Crows:
“Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords? The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons.”
Of course, it’s not so clear exactly how the Maesters would have achieved this (whether poison or some other means), but them conspiring to snuff out magic from the world – which is the opposite of their rigid books, hard facts, and order, and with them having helped push the Targaryens to civil war anyway – isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
No Dragons Is A Good Thing For A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Dragons are one of the hallmarks of the Game of Thrones franchise. They’re among the most recognizable pieces of iconography, used to market the shows, and above all else, give it an epic fantasy feel and some of the most jaw-dropping moments we’ve seen on-screen. And despite that, it’s a good thing that HBO has now launched a show within the saga that doesn’t have any.
For this to have a long life as a franchise, it needs to prove that it can tell different kinds of stories. It can’t just stick to the same playbook, because that will eventually become tiresome and lead to diminishing returns. Dragons are undeniably cool, but it needs to have great stories surrounding them. What always mattered most in Game of Thrones, or rather, what made the show so brilliant, was its characters. They matter more than dragons, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has two of George R.R. Martin’s best in Dunk and Egg.
If this can be even a moderate success – it doesn’t need to be a Thrones-level smash, since it’s a lower budget (another advantage of not having dragons!) – then it can pave the way for the franchise to further diversify its stories. It can go to new eras, and even focus away from the Targaryens. There’s a lot of potential to Westeros, but it takes breaking away from all the dragons to realize it.
New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms release Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.
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