The first episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is here, but will George R.R. Martin be happy about any changes from his story?
One thing fans know about George R.R. Martin is that he is very opinionated when it comes to adaptations of his works. Martin was mostly okay with the changes Game of Thrones made from his A Song of Ice and Fire novels, although he did grouse a bit about some of the alterations.
More famously, Martin posted a rant in late 2024 about his issues with the many significant changes House of the Dragon season 2 made from his books, which cast a shadow over the series. So with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, fans may worry about Martin being just as upset over changes made to his Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas.
Speaking to Slash Film, showrunner Ira Parker addressed that issue and quickly assured fans that Martin is on board with any changes the show may make.
"I wanted to make sure that [Martin] was happy and saw this properly represented," Parker said. "And because we agreed on what it was and who these characters were and what this story was, it was easy. We weren't fighting about these things. I told him quite early on that I wouldn't put anything in the show that he did not want in the show. And it never came to that. It never came to him telling me, 'Don't do this. Don't make this change. Don't make this addition.' It just, everything was a conversation upfront."
This is good news for fans, with Martin giving the series his true stamp of approval.
Why A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has to make changes
As much as fans may be purists and want the show to be just like the book, the reality is that every adaptation has to make some alterations for the screen. Sometimes they are for the better to enhance the action and things work better on screen than in the written format.
While The Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas aren’t as in-depth as A Song of Ice and Fire, there’s still a need to switch things up for the non-book-reading audience and make the show accessible. Parker added that Martin is very excited and always willing to talk about the show with him.
"And there's no better person to have a conversation about Westeros with than George R. R. Martin. It's fun," he said. "We riff off of each other, and he's only been a benefit to this show, so hopefully, people will ... Look, is everyone going to love this show? No. But hopefully, everyone will appreciate that at least we put forth an honest effort. We really did try. We are imperfect in our end result, but so is Dunk."
Given Martin’s reputation for desiring faithfulness to his source material in adaptations, the fact that he’s completely on board with all the changes in the new series proves that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is going to be a show Game of Thrones fans have been waiting for.
The first episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is available to stream now on HBO Max. New episodes premiere Sundays at 10:00 p.m. EST until the season finale on February 22.