TV Review - HBO's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

A tall tale that became a legend.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a 2026-present fantasy drama television series created by Ira Parker and George R.R. Martin, produced by Friendly Wolf Pictures, GRMM, and HBO Entertainment, and distributed by HBO. The first season is based off of George R.R. Martin's 1998 novella, The Hedge Knight. It stars Peter Claffley and Dexter Sol Ansell. The series has been renewed for a second season.

"I know I'm just a hedge knight, but sometimes I think I could be more." - Ser Duncan the Tall

Plot

After his mentor and father figure, Ser Arlan of Pennytree, passes away, hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall finds himself in Ashford Meadow to compete in a tournament...where he happens to meet an enigmatic young boy named Egg who wants to be his squire.

The Sweet

I was looking forward to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but after seeing the trailer, I truly had no idea what this show would be. Westeros does not lend itself to a light-hearted show, but this genuinely looked to be a buddy comedy set in the world of Game of Thrones. The harsh, violent, cruel world of Game of Thrones. So I was confused. But I went in with an open mind. And I was pleasantly surprised.

The thing that works best about this series is its ability to balance the lighter, buddy comedy elements wtih the usual harsh brutality you'd expect from Game of Thrones. This show is still very much R-rated. There's still unflinching violence and shocking character deaths. There's still graphic nudity. And yet, in the midst of all of that, this series manages to have a lighter, more hopeful tone without compromising the dramatic emotional weight of the darkest side of this universe.

Much of that perfect balance is due to our two main characters. Ser Duncan the Tall and Egg are designed to be incredibly endearing and lovable for completely different reasons. Game of Thrones has always excelled at making you fall in love with the good guys, because it feels like good people are few and far between in Westeros. Dunk is one of the truest, most honorable characters that George R.R. Martin has ever created. He is a humble, somewhat naive knight that truly does just want to protect the innocent. He has no real self-interest. He actully seems to view himself as inferior to those around him, which makes him even more sympathetic to us, the audience.

And, as much as I love Dunk, I think Egg was my favorite character in this show. Game of Thrones has had some adorable kids in the past, but Egg might take the cake. Dexter Sol Ansell has this witty sarcasm that feels both very childish and mature at the same time. He also has this surprisingly intense ferocity that he will whip out every so often, but it isn't intimidating or scary - rather, it's even more adorable. I think his relationship with Dunk really brings out the best in both characters. Egg is meant to be more brainy and "intelligent" than Dunk, so his constant correction of Dunk's claims and Dunk's rejection of Egg's true statements is just hilarious. Dunk and Egg feel a little bit like Arya and the Hound, albeit with a lot more warmth and a lot less conflict, which I think makes htem a more endearing duo.

I also loved how small this story is. Before A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, we have had ten prior seasons set in this world. All eight seasons of Game of Thrones are sprawling epics about the battle for the Iron Throne and the conflict with the White Walkers. Between two seasons of House of the Dragon, we've stretched nearly twenty years of a Targaryen civil war. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms covers maybe a week. Episodes are about a half an hour. It feels smaller and more intimate. It's not about the great houses of Westeros (although there are Targaryens and Baratheons in this). It truly narrows in on these few characters and their relationships without having to have these epic battles for power. I never really expected to want a small, light show set in Westeros, but here we are.

I know I just praised it for having a smaller scale without huge, epic battles, but when this show does delve into the action, it's awesome. Episode five is the climactic fight, and it is as visceral as some of the best battles in Game of Thrones. It's smaller, sure, but the episode does not shy away from brutal, realistic violence. We get straight POVs of the people in this battle. Maces and swords will hit the camera. Even the sound design, the crunching of bones and splattering of blood, feels maybe more visceral than in Game of Thrones. This is where the drama really hits, because we've spent time learning to love these characters, so it really hurts when they have to fight.

And, despite the small scale and the intimate setting, this show has some truly shocking and devastating moments that are reminiscent of the best of Game of Thrones. Now, obviously it's not the Red Wedding. It's not the Great Sept explosion. But you feel it when a character dies, because the writers have really built out these people to be good human beings. If you've seen the show, you know there's a death near the end of the season that is just crushing. These characters are so well built out and you are so invested in them that it is truly painful when bad things happen to them.

Game of Thrones has always been great at nuance and being morally ambiguous, and I think A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms does that really well. Our heroes are all just genuine good guys, but our antagonists are a little more complex than it might seem on the surface. As I've said, there are Targaryens in here, and, on the surface, they seem like monsters, but this show gives them time to feel more human. You see them deal with guilt and loss and regret, and it really allows them to have more dimensions than, say, Joffrey Baratheon.

Ira Parker, the showrunner, has said that he would like for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to run for ten, possibly fifteen years, and I'd be all here for it. This show is centered on the relationship between Ser Duncan and Egg, and I think there could be a lot of interesting things you could do with that. There's so much potential for future seasons as these characters age and find themselves in different places in life, and I am very curious to see what they do. Of the two current Game of Thrones spin-offs, I think A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms blows House of the Dragon out of the water, and I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.

The Sour

I don't have a ton of things to say here. This show really did its job beautifully, so the few negatives I have are minor nitpicks.

I am not going to spoil what happens, but I found Egg's major reveal to be pretty predictable. Honestly, I think they set it up too well. Throughout the first two episodes, they are constantly dropping hints about Egg's true nature, and it made it pretty clear where they were going. I also think, if you've seen Game of Thrones, you have an idea of where this is going. It's not a huge deal, but they treat Egg's reveal as a big plot twist, and I found it to be telegraphed pretty obviously from the very beginning.

Let me also say that I think episode five is a great episode and I think the flashbacks are really good...but their placement was a bit iffy for me. I know everyone is fighting about this online, but I'm never in favor of breaking up action for flashbacks. It just feels like we are in the middle of the climax and we're killing momentum by giving us a new story that mostly stars characters we aren't familiar with.

And, finally, I am acknowledging the ridiculousness that is this battle between fans of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. If you're not in the online movie space, you'll have zero clue what I'm talking about. Basically, Ozymandias, one of the greatest episodes of TV of all time, was previously rated as a 10/10 on IMDb, the only episode of TV with that honor. After episode five, fans of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms wanted episode five to have the highest IMDb score, so they basically bombed Ozymandias was 1-star reviews to lower its score. As a huge fan of both Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones...what on earth are we doing? People need to get off the Internet and get a life. Please. This behavior isn't healthy. Stop fighting over two shows that are both fantastic.

Final Thoughts and Score

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is probably the best Game of Thrones we've gotten in ten years. It's smaller scale and funnier, but it also has truly some of the best dramatic moments and characters since the peak of the original show.

I am going Sweet here. Age range is 15+.

SWEET N' SOUR SCALE

Sweet (Great) Savory (Good)

Sour (Bad)

Moldy (Terrible)

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"

Fun Factor: 9/10

Acting: 8.5/10

Story: 9/10

Characters: 9/10

Quality: 9/10

Created by Ira Parker and George R.R. Martin

Rated TV-MA for strong bloody violence, graphic nudity, language, frightening themes and images, thematic elements

Premiered on January 18, 2026

Episode runtime: 35 minutes

Peter Claffley as Ser Duncan the Tall

Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg

Daniel Ings as Lyonel Baratheon

Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway

Danny Webb as Ser Arlan of Pennytree

Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen

Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen

Finn Benntt as Aerion Targaryen

Youssef Kerkour as Steely Pate

Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Plummer

Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle

Henry Ashton as Daeron Targaryen

Paul Hunter as Lord Ashford

Chloe Lea as Rafe

William Houston as Ser Robyn Rhysling

Rowan Robinson as Rowan

Carla Harrison-Hodge as Beony