George R.R. Martin may have issues with House of the Dragon, but his praise for another Game of Thrones prequel is still going strong. This week, the author took to his website to share updates about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, revealing photos from a visit to the set of the HBO series and expressing that he’s also seen a rough cut of the series’ first episode — and he says he loves it. Martin wrote that filming on the series recently wrapped, and that he’s hopeful it will make its debut sometime next spring. According to Martin, the tone of the series will be different from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon as well.
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“You may find the tone quite different from that of Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon; smaller in scale, more personal, with more humor, more focus on character… but there is danger and death as well,” Martin wrote. “Lords and ladies and princes it has, but they share the stage with more smallfolk this time around.”
Martin’s post goes on to detail how he came to write the stories that are becoming the upcoming series — he specifically explains that the series is an adaptation of “The Hedge Knight”, the first of his Dunk & Egg stories — and also shares that the series’ title may not yet be set in stone. Martin suggests that they still could go with The Hedge Knight as a series title. He also shared numerous photos from set that may be a little spoilery so if you really want to see them, you can check them out on his website here.
Martin’s latest post is far from the first time he’s lavished praise on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Back in September, while the author had shared strong criticism for House of the Dragon, he spoke about his July visit to the series’ set in Northern Ireland and said he loved what he saw.
“I visited the set in Northern Ireland in July and loved what I saw,” Martin wrote at the time. “Great cast. [The lead characters] Dunk and Egg look as if they walked out of the pages of my book. My readers are going to love them. I certainly do. [Showrunner Ira Parker] is doing a great job.”
Martin has also previously noted a tonal difference for the series, noting in a post to his website earlier this year that the series will be shorter than Game of Thrones and with a different tone, though he did caution that we’re still in Westeros so no character is safe.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set a century before the events of Game of Thrones when “two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros. A young, naive but courageous night, Ser Duncan the Tall and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age where 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.”
Martin Has Had Criticism For House of the Dragon
While Martin has praise for the Hedge Knight series, he’s been a bit less enthusiastic about the second season of House of the Dragon — specifically how the series handled Aegon and Helaena Targaryen’s youngest child, Prince Maelor who has a significant part of the book’s version of the Blood & Cheese storyline but doesn’t exist in the television series at all. Martin wrote in a now-deleted post that he felt losing Prince Maelor weakened the “Helaena’s Choice” scene, but also suggested that there are bigger issues to come with the HBO series.
“And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…” he wrote.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is expected to arrive on HBO sometime in 2025.
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