5 Issues We Discovered About The New Sport Of Thrones Prequel [NYCC]

Some franchises are harder to give up than others, and the world of Westeros may rank proper on the very prime of the checklist. Many a viewer swore off “Sport of Thrones” by the top of its closing season, dismissing what was as soon as the largest and most talked-about collection on the face of the Earth. Nicely, not solely did “Home of the Dragon” show these offended phrases to be largely empty, bringing us proper again to this universe stuffed with among the richest world-building particulars of any property at present streaming. However “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” the most recent spin-off/prequel collection primarily based on writer George R.R. Martin’s work, is now set to make lightning strike thrice.

You can virtually really feel the excitement within the air as Martin, co-creator and showrunner Ira Parks, and essential leads Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell descended upon New York Comedian Con. The primary main occasion of the weeklong pop-culture celebration centered squarely on “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” packed to the brim with followers anxious for any and all info they might get their arms on in New York Metropolis’s (solely barely humbler) model of Corridor H. I used to be lucky sufficient to be in attendance on behalf of /Movie as HBO unveiled the primary official footage from the upcoming collection, however that was solely the opening salvo in what turned out to be a totally entertaining and considerably chaotic panel — highlighted by enjoyable detours corresponding to Claffey by chance stoking a “The Lord of the Rings” and “Sport of Thrones” rivalry (he is an enormous fan of each, don’t fret), our collective amazement at youngster actor Ansell filming the collection on the age of 9(!) and carrying on press obligations at 11, and the conspicuous absence of any discuss concerning the standing of Martin’s penultimate novel “The Winds of Winter.”

What they did discuss, nonetheless, might take up a number of articles stuffed with absolutely the nerdiest of particulars. As a substitute, we have narrowed it right down to the 5 coolest takeaways we had from the NYCC panel. And now, our watch begins … once more.

Let’s simply say that there are a number of explanation why it is best to have “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” in your radar. Not solely is George R.R. Martin fully jazzed concerning the newest adaptation of his work, which he reiterated on a number of events through the panel. (He even went as far as to proclaim “The Hedge Knight,” the primary brief story in his “Dunk and Egg” novella and the premise for season 1 of this collection, as “among the finest issues I’ve ever carried out.”) And it is not simply that this collection incorporates an consideration to element that may find yourself profitable over even essentially the most hard-to-please member of the fanbase. Ser Duncan the Tall himself, actor Peter Claffey, praised the “badass” armor his character sports activities through the course of the story and famous that it was a “carbon-copy” recreation of the illustrations from the novella. No, arguably essentially the most thrilling purpose to tune in has to do with addressing one of many greatest complaints about Martin’s authentic guide.

In keeping with Martin himself, one of the best a part of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has to do with its give attention to the smallfolk of the dominion. When he printed the preliminary guide in his “A Tune of Ice and Fireplace” saga, titled “A Sport of Thrones,” Martin recalled that the harshest critique revolved round his option to comply with royal households, princes, and different highborn people highly effective sufficient to sway kings and armies:

“One of many issues that one of many [critics] stated was that, ‘Here is one other fantasy and we get to listen to extra about kingdoms and lords […] no one ever writes concerning the widespread individuals,’ the smallfolk as I name them. And that resonated with me. We do hearken to among the critics, in the event that they know what they’re speaking about, and that’s true.”

So after we find yourself following figures corresponding to lowborn hedge knight Duncan the Tall and the diminutive, easy-to-overlook squire Egg, we’ll be witnessing one thing even “Sport of Thrones” could not pull off.

For these unfamiliar with the plot of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” the collection finally ends up incorporating a major jousting match recognized far and extensive in Westeros as the Tourney at Ashford Meadow. When Ser Duncan the Tall enlists within the festivities, desperate to show his abilities as a real knight, neither he nor his loyal sidekick Egg might think about simply how their presence would change the course of historical past in Westeros. To do correct justice to this occasion, nonetheless, George R.R. Martin knew that the artistic workforce had a tricky problem on their arms — and, naturally, he determined to lift the bar to the very best stage doable. 

Martin defined to the NYCC crowd that we have seen tournaments depicted in “Sport of Thrones” earlier than, however the one on this collection wanted to take issues additional than we have ever seen earlier than. His earlier gold commonplace, 1952’s “Ivanhoe” starring Elizabeth Taylor and directed by Richard Thorpe, set a sky-high bar for Martin. However, as he defined:

“I set [showrunner Ira Parks and the creative team] a problem, which I feel Ira has delivered […] I stated, ‘Let’s do one of the best jousting sequence that has ever been placed on movie. A modest little problem for Ira and his crew.”

By all accounts, it was mission completed in that regard … however this was removed from the final of the present’s greatest obstacles. In keeping with Pars, the trickiest side to nail in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was the tone. As he described it, the supply materials leans arduous into being “pretty and candy and [filled with] a lot hope,” but in addition incorporates “actually brutal components of this world that we have all come to like in Westeros, the place something can occur.” Problem accepted.

With any spin-off, it is not essentially about recapturing what’s been carried out within the franchise earlier than — it is about what new components it brings to the forefront now. The artistic workforce behind “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” feels this stress acutely, however do not mistake that for shrinking from the problem. One key level emphasised many times through the panel was that Ira Parks and his writing workforce are desperate to forge their very own id, separate and distinct from both “Sport of Thrones” or “Home of the Dragon.” Probably the most speedy means to take action? The motion. In keeping with Parks, this manifested via taking how Martin wrote battle scenes and different tense moments within the novella and translating them to the display via Duncan’s standpoint:

“Our guiding mild on this present was to comply with Duncan and let this character, by way of tone and POV within the mud and the dust, we wish the viewers to really feel what he feels. We need to be with him as intently as doable. This is not motion sequences which can be reduce up very quickly, it is not large, sprawling “Sport of Thrones” that we have come to know and love. That is shut and that is intimate and that is brutal and that is horrible. That is what it might have been prefer to be going through this.”

Even that wasn’t so simple as it might sound, nonetheless. Longtime readers of George R.R. Martin know that his “A Tune of Ice and Fireplace” novels had been instructed via strict point-of-view characters, with every chapter instructed via the eyes of particular people with out ever leaving their perspective. Martin confronted an identical determination in “The Hedge Knight” over whether or not to modify backwards and forwards between his two essential characters. As a substitute, he opted to stay with Ser Duncan all through all of the motion, and the HBO collection adopted go well with. However viewers will discover at the least one acquainted side carried over from “Sport of Thrones” — Martin confirmed the penultimate fifth episode will characteristic the biggest battle of the season, persevering with the identical pattern first established within the mother or father collection.

As a lot as “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has to stay of a chunk with the remainder of the universe established in “Sport of Thrones,” it might be a mistake to view the spin-off as nothing however mere spectacle. Duncan may not appear to be the deepest or most intricate character at first blush, however the would-be knight harbors all types of insecurities about his lot in life. Born within the slums of King’s Touchdown, the capital metropolis seen so prominently in each the unique collection and “Home of the Dragon,” Duncan is continually attempting to place his lowborn origins behind him and ascend to the heights of a landed knight. However as Peter Claffey defined, that is a lot simpler stated than carried out:

“Clearly, he is attempting to be essentially the most respectable, honorable knight he probably will be. It is humorous, as a result of he tries to place away or extinguish that aspect of him that he needs to overlook, that younger boy in Fleabottom simply attempting to outlive virtually like some half-human, half-dog roaming the streets. And I feel he is continuously attempting to extinguish that and overlook about that. Nevertheless it serves him to know that that’s who he’s in sure conditions in direction of the top of our story, and it serves him to have that character, that never-give-up and fight-tooth-and-nail attribute. He will get to kind of settle for that — it is one large, violent remedy session.”

To not be outdone, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” will apparently save a few of its deepest materials for final. In one of many uncommon moments of the creatives letting slip extra particular particulars from the top of the season, George R.R. Martin hinted at a finale that may take a web page proper out of “The Lord of the Rings.” Evaluating it to “The Scouring of the Shire” chapter from the top of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Return of the King,” Martin teased that the episode (his favourite of the season) will equally deal really feel like an epilogue, coping with the aftermath of an enormous battle and the way it essentially adjustments our characters … whereas additionally organising future seasons to return.

Who says Westeros cannot be a bit of healthful from time to time? By its very nature, as a two-hander story between Duncan and Egg, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” retains its central dynamic within the foreground of each episode. So it ought to come as no shock that this fictional relationship ended up mixing into actual life, as nicely. HBO enacted a rigorous casting course of to land on each Peter Claffey and relative newcomer Dexter Sol Ansell for the principle roles, even when they are not totally good mirrors of their on-page counterparts. (George R.R. Martin joked concerning the casting of “brief man” Claffey specifically, whose imposing peak of 6 foot 6 nonetheless pales compared to the practically 7-foot-tall Duncan within the novellas.)

However even the hilarious bodily discrepancy between Claffey and Ansell solely ended up fueling their real-world bond. To decompress between grueling filming days, each on set and on location within the rain and dust of Northern Eire, the inseparable pair would hit up native cities to play every part from arcade video games to “Mario Kart” — the latter of which Claffey good-naturedly claimed to have turn into proficient in kicking Ansell’s you-know-what on many events. For Claffey, he had a primary row seat to watching reality and fiction blur collectively because the actors advanced alongside their characters:

“The idea that you simply’re working with a 9-year-old is over inside half an hour of a day on set, and also you notice you are working with a 25-year-old in an 11-year-old’s physique. He is extremely mature and I am actually in awe […] I do suppose Dunk seems as much as Egg loads, and appears to him for steerage. And I discover myself doing the very same factor with Dexter, for positive.”

“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” premieres on HBO January 18, 2026.