HBO’s Best Fantasy Show Running for a Record-Breaking 15 Seasons Is Exactly What It Needs

Game of Thrones comfortably holds the record for the most seasons of a HBO fantasy show, but another series could quite easily beat it. Thrones ran for eight seasons before ending in controversial fashion. HBO’s other fantasy series don’t come close to GOT in terms of length, such as the short-lived Carnivàle (cancelled after two seasons), the three-season His Dark Materials, and the ongoing House of the Dragon, which is expected to end after its fourth season in 2028 (Season 3 releases this summer).

It’s another Game of Thrones spinoff that could break the record: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, its best ongoing fantasy show. The show is based on George R.R. Martin’s The Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, following Ser Duncan the Tall, a hedge knight, and his squire, Egg, on adventures around Westeros. Although the first season only released earlier this year, showrunner Ira Parker has discussed a potential 12-15 season run for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. While only three books have been published, Martin has ideas for around a dozen, and Parker’s dream, while very ambitious, would be to tell those stories on TV.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Needs 12-15 Seasons To Have A Complete Story

As it stands, Dunk and Egg don’t have a proper ending. We do know the broadstrokes of what happens to them thanks to Game of Thrones lore, but there’s not a huge amount of detail. Martin’s three books so far have only covered around three years of their time together, and there’s almost another 50 to come. Parker’s hope would be to have a few seasons of the show cover the current status quo with Egg as a young boy, then pick things up a decade later for another 4-5 seasons, and then do that again for the final few seasons.

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There are many reasons that’s difficult to pull off, from getting actors Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell back time and again to maintaining audience interest, to HBO taking that kind of extremely long-term creative gamble. But if it did, then it’d mean Dunk and Egg’s full stories could be told. We’d get to experience all the key parts of their lives, hitting on all the major events we know about and (presumably) a lot that we don’t. Crucially, it’d ensure the show gets the ending it deserves with a real sense of finality and closure.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Having 10+ Seasons Would Show HBO Has Learned From GOT

Game of Thrones wrapping up after eight seasons wasn’t HBO’s decision, as showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had always seen it was being around the seven-season mark. HBO would’ve gladly taken more, and Martin himself thinks at least 10 seasons, if not more, were necessary to do the story justice. Given the biggest problem with Game of Thrones Season 8 is that things were rushed, it’s hard to disagree with that sentiment.

Because of that, it’d be great to see HBO realize they have something special with its prequel, and if the creative team involved really do want to go for 10, 12, or even 15 seasons, then the network should be prepared to back it (within reason, of course, but the show’s budget isn’t close to that of Thrones or House of the Dragon, and the viewing figures are strong). This would allow for a perfectly complete fantasy adaptation that doesn’t have to make the same sort of compromises the others did.

It’d also be great for HBO: while it has several Game of Thrones spinoffs in development, only two have made it to air so far, and House of the Dragon is coming to an end in a couple of years. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 2 will release in 2027, but having a show that audiences can keep coming back to with a long-term investment, especially if its quality can be maintained, is a great weapon for a network (and streaming service HBO Max) to have in its arsenal.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max.

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