Every year, we get a new calendar based on the work of author George R.R. Martin, the man behind A Song of Ice and Fire, Fire & Blood, and all things Game of Thrones. The artwork is always splendid, so even if you only use your phone to keep track of dates, these calendars are worth looking into for that alone.
For the upcoming 2026 calendar, the artwork will come from fantasy artist Tom Kidd, who has a wonderful body of work. Everything will be themed around Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, about a knight named Ser Duncan the Tall and his precocious squire Egg. HBO is turning these novellas into a new TV show called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which is due out this year, so it makes sense that there would be some cross-promotion. The cover for the new calendar has now been unveiled:
DUNK AND EGG THEMED CALENDAR I love this art so much pic.twitter.com/CKEgvBRzB8
— Quinn The GM (@quinnthegm) January 18, 2025
That's definitely Dunk, and that's definitely Egg, and that's definitely...dragons behind them?
The Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, of which Martin has published three so far, take place decades before the events of Game of Thrones but decades after the events of House of the Dragon. During this time, there are no live dragons in Westeros. There may not be any in the world, so it's surprising to see a cover where they're spotlighted.
It's true that Martin does have plans to write more Dunk and Egg stories, although after waiting 14 years and counting for him to finish work on The Winds of Winter I'm not sure how much stock fans are willing to put in those. Still, maybe Martin told Tom Kidd about a future story he planned to write where Dunk and Egg ran into some dragons. Or maybe Kidd is just using his imaginative to create a striking image that doesn't have any basis in the source material.
The official description for the calendar mentions that it will take us on a "journey across Westeros and Essos," which is interesting because none of the published novellas have taken Dunk and Egg to Essos. So I guess Kidd will take them on all kinds of new adventures!
The 2026 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar won't go on sale until July, but you can preorder it now. As for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, expect it to premiere on HBO and Max sometime in the back half of the year. So far, the reviews have been glowing:
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h/t Los Siete Reinos