Yes, of course there was talk of ‘game of thrones‘.
In the presentation of the new HBO Max news for 2026we had the opportunity to find out what awaited us from the platform’s most popular franchise in the coming months. We look at new images of the third season of ‘The House of the Dragon’, which will arrive in a few months, but above all, there was talk of the imminent premiere on January 18 of ‘The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, an unexpected turn in tone and visuals for the franchise. A change of third that, if it proves anything, is that we have ‘Game of Thrones for a while’.
‘The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ is the third television project in the Westeros universe created by George RR Martin and is based on the short novels that make up the ‘Tales of Dunk and Egg’ cycle. They narrate the adventures of a wandering knight and his young squire located between ‘The House of the Dragon’ (72 years later) and ‘Game of Thrones’ (172 years before), in a time where the Targaryens still occupy the Iron Throne but the dragons are now only a distant memory.
The protagonists are Ser Duncan the Tall, Dunk (Peter Claffey), a humble and tall knight, and his squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), who actually hides his true identity as Aegon Targaryen, the future Aegon V. With a shorter and more concentrated format, with six half-hour episodes in its first seasonthe tone promises to be brighter and more adventurous, moving away from palace conspiracies and battles to focus on this journey through the paths of Westeros. And what we saw gave us the impression of an aesthetic identical to what we expect from the franchise, but with humor that borders on parody.
This series serves to make it clear that there are many ‘Game of Thrones’ in ‘Game of Thrones’. We will see death, darkness and violence, but also gags typical of a sitcom. All while remaining a strong visual bet in the purest HBO style: costumes, photography and settings are on par with what we have seen in ‘The House of the Dragon’, and it is just as violent. A surprisingly talkative Ira Parker told us about all this, showrunner of the series.
To make his own, distinctive version of the books, Martin says he did what the showrunners of the previous series did with the original work: “process it in your own style.” That is to say, “you are not looking for anything specific, the new style comes naturally according to your personality.” For example, Parker affirms that there is a lot of himself in the protagonistwhich “comes from the shittiest corner of Westeros.”
What happens to him is that “all these princes, kings and queens he meets seem a little absurd to him. And he doesn’t really know if people are making fun of him or not, if they are serious or not. And from that situation many comedic scenes arise naturally.” And that’s why “this series is a good starting point for people who didn’t watch the original series because it was very dark. We take them by the hand on a lighter and kinder path to Westeros. And then it becomes the Westeros we know.”
Because If there’s one thing fans don’t have to worry about, it’s fidelity to the original book. Parker says that from the first conversations with HBO and Martin himself, “the idea was that the story is the story. The story of these novellas, the beginning and the end, that’s what we’re going to tell.” But above all, respecting the original spirit: “That’s the fun of these books. Anyone can die at any time.” And also, according to Bloys, “with a final battle scene that is on par with what has been seen in ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘House of the Dragon’.”
And although Parker appreciates Bloys’ words, he makes a distinction: “the series identifies with Duncan to the point that everything, our music, our photography, our action and also our budget, is a reflection of someone who rises from nothing. Of course, there are great, very careful and epic series in this world. We are not one of them. We do what we can, like Duncan.”
However, the heart of the series is not in the violence, but in “the relationship established between Duncan and Egg, which we have tried to take care of as much as possible. “We have two extraordinary actors who are basically good friends, that is, they became friends during filming, and we show that on the screen, we show a friendship that is forming.”
In fact, he only has words of praise for the great discovery of the series, young Dexter Sol Ansell. He says it was the first audition for the character he ever saw, and he immediately wrote to the casting director: “I said, ‘Oh, perfect. He’s done it. He’s nailed it. What do we do now? Shall we hire him?’ and he said we had to go through a slightly longer casting process. We did, we ended up going back to that first audition. Dexter is a really special kid. He’s the best child actor who has ever lived on planet Earth.”
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