Right now, the team behind A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is hard at work on the show's second season, which will adapt George R.R. Martin's second Tales of Dunk and Egg novella, titled, "The Sworn Sword." This next book sees Dunk and Egg leave glorious tourneys behind for a very different sort of outing, where the hedge knight tries to mediate a land dispute between two noble houses who each want to claim the same river during a terrible drought.
"The Sworn Sword" is set roughly a year and a half after our heroes depart from Ashford Meadow, and during that time gap Dunk and Egg got up to all sorts of adventures as they traveled to places like Old Town to visit Egg's brother Aemon, and Dorne in search of Tanselle, the puppeteer Dunk became smitten with during the first season. All of those adventures happen off-screen, and if we see them in season 2 of the television show, I'd expect it to be brief. However, it sounds like showrunner Ira Parker and his team once considered a more thorough approach to that time jump that might have even seen it take up all of season 2.
In the weeks following the season 1 finale of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, lots of news outlets ran interviews with Parker about the show. There's plenty of gold to be found in those conversations, but one tidbit that slipped mostly under the radar comes from an LA Times article where Parker discusses season 2. The outlet details how season 2 will be set in part of the Reach, which matches up with "The Sworn Sword." However, it then includes this surprising note: "Parker said they considered setting Season 2 in Dorne but that it would have taken too much time to flesh out the story even with Martin’s notes."
It's easy to gloss over that without fully grasping the implication, but essentially that means Parker and his writers considered having a full season that would have explored Dunk and Egg's Dornish adventures. But given that Martin's notes on that time period are presumably pretty sparse, it would have meant creating almost entirely new material for the show. Ultimately it was decided to keep the first three seasons of the series to one book a piece, with season 1 adapting "The Hedge Knight," season 2 tackling "The Sworn Sword," and a prospective third season digging into the material from "The Mystery Knight." From where I'm sitting, that was a very wise choice.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' philosophy on adding new material
The reason Parker and his team decided to stick to that route seems pretty obvious when you hear him talk about the show's philosophy for adapting the source material. “Very early on, all of us knew that we weren’t going to add any story,” Parker told the LA Times. “The story is the story. We’re going to be 100% faithful to the novellas in that respect. But where we could add, because we needed about another 50% of material in order to fill out even our six 30-minute episodes, was going to be in the characters.”
“I wasn’t always convinced that people would allow us to do it,” he added. “Hanging out in Westeros. It meant a little bit of a slower start. Luckily, people have come along with us on the ride. ... We really just hoped that people would be charmed enough by these characters and the story and want good things for Dunk.”
The formula of adding mostly character-centric material worked wonders for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1. As much as I adore "The Hedge Knight," I think the show is actually even more enjoyable than Martin's novella for this exact reason. It's just a blast to spend so much more time with characters like Dunk, Egg, Lyonel Baratheon, Raymun Fossoway, and all those dysfuntional Targaryens.
While the choice to keep Dunk and Egg's Dornish adventures mostly as a footnote for season 2 is indisputably a good one, it does mean we're unlikely to see Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford) again next season, even if Dunk actor Peter Claffey has hinted that one day, if the show runs long enough, Tanselle and Dunk will meet again. Instead, Dunk will have a different romantic interest in season 2, and she'll bring a more fiery energy to the series.
Lady Rohanne Webber and Dunk have a 'will they / won't they' relationship dynamic
Parker also spoke briefly about season 2, and how excited he is to adapt "The Sworn Sword" — and to bring characters like Lady Rohanne Webber, one of the story's lead characters, to life. "I love ‘The Sworn Sword’ because I think it’s very funny, and I think the sort of ‘will they / won’t they’ between Dunk and Lady Rohanne is just good territory for us,” he said.
Lady Rohanne is the ruler of a keep called Coldmoat, and a formidable woman. She is known as the Red Widow, due to rumors of nefarious actions that sprung up after she outlived multiple husbands. In the novella, she and Dunk do indeed have a very engaging interplay, where it's obvious there's an attraction between them but they're playing politics and pulled in different directions by their respective agendas. It is absolutely a highlight of the book, and I'm fully expecting it to be a highlight of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2, where Lady Rohanne will be played by Bohemian Rhapsody star Lucy Boynton.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is currently in the midst of filming season 2, with sets going up in Spain for the outdoor drought scenes that take place in the Reach. It's scheduled to release sometime in 2027.