A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is well on its way to becoming one of the biggest TV shows of 2026. While it's getting harder to imagine a world without the new HBO series, George R.R. Martin's book series that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on might not have happened without a little push.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Martin revealed that he came up with the idea for The Hedge Knight, the first of his novellas about Dunk and Egg, after he was approached by Robert Silverberg about an anthology of short stories from the most popular fantasy writers of the time. The book turned out to be Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy.
"I agreed to do a story for him," Martin said. "And, the parameters of Silverberg's book, Legends, was it had to be original, never before published, and it had to take place in the world that you had, whichever world it happened to be. For me, that was Westeros."
At the time, Martin had already published A Game of Thrones, but as he mentioned in the interview, he was still working on A Clash of Kings, the second of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series. He mentioned that he wanted to start working on a prequel for the Legends anthology.
"I had the idea that I wanted to write a prequel, so I would set it before A Game of Thrones started, and I wanted to write it about a tournament," Martin said. "I've always loved knights and chivalry and all of that stuff, and the jousting thing."
Martin admits Dunk and Egg's story "almost" wrote itself
So, Silverberg deserves a lot of credit for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. If not for him, it might have taken even longer for Martin to come up with this story. But, how did Martin settle on Dunk and Egg and their journeys through Westeros? Martin had an interesting answer for that.
"One thing or another, Dunk and Egg came from somewhere," Martin said. "I had to figure out who starred in this. The Game of Thrones people weren't born yet. So, at least for me, there are stories that write themselves almost. They come alive, and you think of them every day, and you dream about them at night. I mean, this story and the characters, Dunk and Egg, really came alive on me."
That's such a fascinating way to think about Martin's work, considering how long he's been working on The Winds of Winter. He's discussed his process for writing these books and characters so much over the years, and it's so interesting to hear that some of these happened too quickly and easily for Martin back in the day.
The Hedge Knight was published in Legends on Aug. 25, 1998, several months after the release of A Clash of Kings. Martin would write two more stories about Dunk and Egg. The second of the novellas, The Sworn Sword, was published in 2003, followed by The Mystery Knight in 2010.
The first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms follows The Hedge Knight, while the second and third seasons, which HBO already ordered, will likely tell the stories of Dunk and Egg from The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight.
From there, things will probably get very interesting. We've heard from Martin recently that he has more ideas for Dunk and Egg stories, but he's also hard at work on The Winds of Winter and other projects. My hope is that we'll get to follow Dunk and Egg beyond the third novella, but whether that happens remains to be seen.
Ira Parker, who created A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms with Martin, also has big plans for the series, so I think it's safe to say this story is in good hands.
Stay tuned for more news about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO and HBO Max.