By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 1 hour ago

Game Of Thrones was, at one point, the most popular show on the planet, until the final season, when, much like Icarus, it came crashing back down to Earth as a flaming wreck after stubbornly avoiding the most basic of advice. The first prequel, House of the Dragon, gave fans more of the high drama and courtly intrigue they craved, but it felt like more of the same, only smaller in scope and budget.

Only the first episode of the second prequel, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, has aired so far, but it’s even smaller in focus with a significantly smaller budget. That’s also not a bad thing, as instead of rehashing high-level courtly politics, viewers are down in the muck with the commonfolk of Westeros. Instead of a sprawling cast and dozens of locations, it’s centered on Ser Duncan the Tall and the start of his journey to become the greatest knight in history, which, like all great stories, begins with a poop joke. 

Westeros Like You’ve Never Seen It Before

Ser Duncan is played by Peter Claffey with the perfect mix of fear that at any moment he will be brutally murdered, and hope that he’ll rise above his status at birth and become a true knight. In the opening minutes, he’s shown burying his Lord, Ser Arlan, deciding that the old knight’s sword fits his grip and realizing there’s a tournament nearby.

The Game of Thrones music starts to swell as the camera slowly pans out…. and then we see Duncan pooping behind a tree. Alone on the road in a tattered cloak with old horses, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms shows up on screen in dull, white text, and the tone is set for the rest of the episode. 

Gone are the massive armies from the first series; none of the courtly trappings of King’s Landing are to be seen, and the only dragon is part of a stage play. The lords and nobles Duncan meets are drunkards and fools, with Lord Lyonel Baratheon in particular, proving that Stannis was the odd one in that family.

Duncan’s only friend is a little boy named Egg, played by Dexter Sol Ansell, an orphan boy whose real identity is hinted at during the episode. The first episode ends on a quiet note with Dunk and Egg watching a falling star. It’s a brilliant counterpoint to the opening of Duncan alone by himself, to having a friend, though neither one of them fits into the world around them. 

The Biggest HBO Franchise Of All Time Goes Small

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is filled with scenes of dialogue that, unlike the first show, don’t include copious amounts of nudity to hold the audience’s interest. It’s a sign that showrunner Ira Parker recognizes audiences have adjusted their expectations in the last 15 years and that the real lasting appeal of Game of Thrones came from the elaborate worldbuilding.

Ser Duncan’s adventure should do for Game of Thrones what Andor did for Star Wars by keeping the focus tight on the world around one character and showing how the ruling class is impacting the small folk, for good or, given this is set during the reign of House Targaryen, bad. Very bad. 

“The Hedge Knight,” the first episode of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, has no action to it and low-stakes drama, but it’s a fascinating direction to take the fantasy franchise in years after the fanbase left it for dead. Going small is not what major franchises are supposed to do, but that’s exactly what is being done here, and it works. Peter Claffey isn’t a household name, but when Game of Thrones started, neither was Emilia Clarke nor Kit Harrington.

Between a bold, new take on Westeros and Season 3 of House of the Dragon, 2026 is going to be a very big year for Game of Thrones fans. Thankfully, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms has already been renewed for a second season. The tales of Dunk and Egg are perfect for bringing back lapsed fans who regret getting that Daenerys tattoo.