HBO has taken the plunge on a second Game of Thrones spin-off show. Joining House of the Dragon will be A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight.
The new show will be based on George R.R. Martin's Dunk & Egg series of novellas, of which he has so far published three: The Hedge Knight (1998), The Sworn Sword (2002) and The Mystery Knight (2009). Two more novellas are partially written or planned, The Village Hero and The She-Wolves. The first three novellas are available in an omnibus edition called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, hence the inspiration for the series title.
The novellas begin eighty-nine years before the events of Game of Thrones, during the surprisingly peaceful reign of Good King Daeron the Second. The Targaryen dragons are long gone, but the family's hold on the Iron Throne seems secure. A young, tall but poor hedge knight named Ser Duncan the Tall sets out to make his fortune at the Ashford tourney, where his paths cross with a young boy named "Egg." Duncan takes the young boy under his wing as dramatic events unfold from a very minor incident that will completely change the future history of Westeros.
George R.R. Martin has around twelve Dunk & Egg novellas planned in total, but his plan to release them between novels of the mainline series has suffered from the lengthy delays affecting the main novels. It is unclear if the TV show will adapt all of the planned-but-unwritten novellas as well as the published ones, or - if the title suggests - it will adapt The Hedge Knight by itself and then maybe focus on original adventures in the same time period. Unlike the main books, the Dunk & Egg stories are more standalone and also span a much vaster span of time, with the novellas planned to cover the period 209-259 AC (Game of Thrones begins in 298 AC; House of the Dragon will conclude in 131 AC), with years-long gaps between each one.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will be executive produced by George R.R. Martin and House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal. Ira Parker is expected to be head writer and showrunner, having previously written for The Nevers, House of the Dragon, Better Things, The Last Ship, Four in the Morning, Rogue and The Pinkertons.
HBO is also considering a spin-off movie and accompanying TV series about Aegon the Conqueror, and is working with Kit Harington on a possible Game of Thrones sequel series about Jon Snow.
I was going to write I wish he'd stop all these TV Productions and get on with the last two books. Then I asked myself the question "It's been so long since the last one and I'll be 80+ if, presumably, he takes just as long to write the final one, so do I care anymore if he ever completes the series? The answer - no I don't. I've lost interest and can't be bothered re-reading A Dance with Dragons to refresh my memory." I give up.
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