When A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premiered earlier this year on HBO, it was a breath of fresh air for the studio's Game of Thrones television universe. Both the original show and its first spinoff, House of the Dragon, wore their darkness on their sleeve, depicting the horrors of war, bloody political power plays, and gruesome deaths that have become the stuff of TV legend. But AKOTSK was built differently; yes, it still had the Thrones hallmarks, but it was often lighter, with more outright comedic elements thanks to the endearing duo at its heart: Ser Duncan the Tall and his precocious squire, Egg.
However, according to star Peter Claffey, who plays the lovable hedge knight Dunk, the second season of the show won't have quite the same pep in its step as the first.
“There’s a lot more sadness to this story, I think, and it’s a totally different challenge for Dunk for sure,” Claffey told TV Insider. “The people that he’s dealing with are on a much less serious scale. You’re not dealing with your Royal Targaryens and people of King’s Landing, but he tries his hand at diplomacy and finds out how difficult that is to work with.”
If you've read "The Sworn Sword" by George R.R. Martin, you know exactly what Claffey is talking about. If not, we can discuss it broadly without getting too deep into spoilers. (Though of course, I'd highly recommend checking out the novella before season 2 airs — it's included in Martin's book A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.)
What is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 about?
"The Sworn Sword" takes place around a year and a half after the events of the first Dunk and Egg novella, "The Hedge Knight," which was covered in the show's first season. It sees the Seven Kingdoms in the midst of a terrible drought, right after suffering through a terrible plague that killed a vast numbers of people, highborn and low. The tone of this story is simply a more dour one, because the realm itself is in a more dour place than it was during the tourney at Ashford Meadow.
Into this more brooding set up ride Dunk and Egg, who take up service with an aging landed knight named Ser Eustace Osgrey. Osgrey gets into a dispute over land rights with Lady Rohanne Webber, "the Red Widow," who owns the keep next door. Essentially, both Osgrey and Webber claim to own the same river, and are willing to spill blood over it. Dunk tries to mediate while getting to the bottom of the story for why they both feel entitled to the landmark.
If you've seen season 1, it should come as no surprise that Dunk isn't a deft hand at negotiating with the nobility, even if his honorable nature does make them prone to taking a liking to him. Claffey teases a “totally different task and challenge for him," adding that "it was a lot of fun making it, that’s for sure."
Who is Lady Rohanne Webber, the Red Widow?
The hedge knight's strained attempts go hand-in-hand with another area he's not especially comfortable with: conversing with ladies. Claffey said that Dunk, “tries his hand and fails at talking to women, multiple times again this season.”
In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2, Rohanne Webber is played by Bohemian Rhapsody star Lucy Boynton. She's probably the character whose introduction has the most anticipation behind it; Dunk and Egg meet plenty of fascinating figures during their travels, but the Red Widow is among the best of them. She's a noble Dunk must deal with, but she also serves as something of a love interest as well. Showrunner Ira Parker hinted earlier this year at the "uncomfortable" dynamic between Dunk and Rohanne, and why it is bad news for Dunk but great news for the show.
“She has a way of making Dunk uncomfortable, which is very good for us,” Parker told Entertainment Weekly. “Some of our other characters on season one did that very well, and that’s what we need from the Red Widow for a variety of reasons. This is essentially Dunk wading into politics. Maybe he’s gotten pretty good with a sword and pretty good riding a horse and being a sword for hire, but not so good at talking to highborn ladies or politicking in general. So somebody who can make him feel back-footed is gonna lead to good situations for us.”
While A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 may have a bit more darkness than season 1, I still wouldn't expect it to reach the depths of something like House of the Dragon. Even when the situation is bad, part of the charm of Dunk and Egg is that they bring their own infectious energy to every situation. There will still be plenty of jokes, I'm sure.
Dunk and Egg at the Emmys
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has been in the news a bit lately not just for its upcoming second season, but also for its run at the Emmys, where it was nominated for nine awards and took home one, for Outstanding Stunt Performance for its spectacular trial of seven episode, "In the Name of the Mother." Claffey and his co-star, Dexter Sol Ansell (Egg) were on hand at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards event recently, where they rubbed elbows with Hollywood's elite. According to Claffey, there was something more than a bit reminiscent about the experience.
“It almost felt like Dunk’s story reflecting my own life of going in and seeing all these amazing people that I’ve looked up to for so long,” he said. “It was a lot of fun and to get to do it with Dexter...I just wish I had his confidence to go up and talk to people.”
It remains incredibly endearing just how much Claffey and Ansell reflect their characters in real life. Dunk and Egg may have harder times ahead in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but there's no doubt their stars are on the rise in the real world.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 has wrapped filming. It is slated to premiere sometime in the first half of 2027.
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