Game of Thrones Creator Reveals Why HBO Changed the Spinoff's Name

During the Max presentation on Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced another Game of Thrones spinoff coming to HBO: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. The series is an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, which begin about 90 years before Game of Thrones. Some fans may wonder why the show's title doesn't mention Dunk and Egg, with the series instead opting to combine the name of the first novella (The Hedge Knight) with the title of the book collected the three novellas (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), at least for now. In a post on his Not a Blog, Martin explained that they avoided using "Dunk and Egg" in the title because it sounded too much like a comedy duo, which is not the vibe they were trying to capture.

"The working title will be A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS: THE HEDGE KNIGHT," Martin writes. "Whether that will be the final title, I can't say for sure… beyond saying that no, it won't be called TALES OF DUNK & EGG or THE ADVENTURES OF DUNK & EGG or DUNK & EGG or anything along those lines.   I love Dunk and I love Egg, and I know that fans refer to my novellas as 'the Dunk & Egg stories,' sure, but there are millions of people out there who do not know the stories and the title needs to intrigue them too. If you don't know the characters, DUNK & EGG sounds like a sitcom.  LAVERNE & SHIRLEY. ABBOTT & COSTELLO. BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD.So, no. We want "knight" in the title. Knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories."

What is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight about?

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms adapts Tales of Dunk and Egg, Martin's novellas that follow the adventures of "Dunk" (who would become Ser Duncan the Tall, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard) and Egg (the future King Aegon V Targaryen) who traveled together during their youth. Martin has published three novellas in the series to date (The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight), all collected in the book A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The author offered some additional details on the structure of the HBO adaptation:

"HBO has given us a greenlight to film for a full season (not just a pilot), most likely of six episodes… though that is not set in stone, and won't be until considerably later in the process," Martin writes. In later paragraphs, he continues, "Our premiere season will be an adaptation of the first of the three published novellas, 'The Hedge Knight,' the tale of how Dunk & Egg first met during a tournament at Ashford Meadow… There is no date set yet for the series premiere, or even for the show to begin shooting… but the writing is well underway."