A raven has arrived bearing exciting news from Westeros! A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin took to his Not A Blog yesterday to discuss A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff based on his Dunk & Egg novellas. While we're all busy gearing up for the premiere of House of the Dragon season 2 next month, work on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is still "moving along nicely" according to Martin, with filming due to start over the summer.
The Dunk & Egg novellas are lighter in tone than A Song of Ice and Fire, though not without their share of drama and excitement. They take place around 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and follow the exploits of a knight named Ser Duncan the Tall and his diminuitive and very bald squire, Egg. Back in April 2024, we learned that HBO had cast these two key roles; actor and former rugby player Peter Claffey will portray Dunk, while child actor Dexter Sol Ansell will play Egg. Ansell has been sharing his hype on social media, as in this video where he shaves his head to look the part:
"I love it," Martin says of Ansell's video. He also revealed that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is almost finished with casting, and that the cast has even gotten together for their first table read. "Most of the auditions — not all, but most — are done, and we should be able to announce some more cast members shortly. We have our Tanselle, Steely Pate, Baelor Breakspear, the Laughing Storm, a couple of Fossoways, Aerion Brightflame (boo, hiss), Prince Maekar, and the rest. Lists are being built on Ashford Meadow. I am told they just had the first table read, and that it went great."
These characters are from the first Dunk & Egg novella, The Hedge Knight. Tanselle is a puppeteer who plays a very important part in this stage of Dunk and Egg's journey. Baelor Breakspear and Aerion Brightflame are Targaryen princes who represent the best and worst the family has to offer, respectively. Maekar is another Targaryen alive during this time. It's also exciting to hear that "lists are being built on Ashford Meadow." A list means a grand tourney with jousting and a melee, which is the setting of The Hedge Knight. House Fossaway is a noble house from the Reach, Steely Pate is a blacksmith, and the Laughing Storm is a knight named Lyonel Baratheon, who's almost as tall as Dunk.
"THE HEDGE KNIGHT will be a lot shorter than GAME OF THRONES or HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, with a much different tone… but it’s still Westeros, so no one is truly safe," Martin writes. "Ira Parker and his team are doing a great job. I hope to visit the shoot come July, when I swing by Belfast on my way to the worldcon in Glasgow."
George R.R. Martin "hope to have finished" more Dunk & Egg books before A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2
Of course, Martin being Martin, he can't do a blog post about Westeros without a passing reference to The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in his Song of Ice and Fire series. If he did, fans would demand information even more loudly than they already do — which is quite loudly.
"[A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms] will make its debut next year… and if it does well, THE SWORN SWORD and THE MYSTERY KNIGHT will follow," Martin wrote, naming the other two novellas he's writtin in the Dunk & Egg series so far. "By which time I hope to have finished some more Dunk & Egg stories (yes, after I finish THE WINDS OF WINTER)."
This isn't the first time we've heard Martin say he wants to write more Dunk & Egg stories after finishing The Winds of Winter, but considering that we've already been waiting more than a decade for that book, it's hard to get too excited about it. I'll absolutely devour any Dunk & Egg story he writes, but until Winds is out, there'll always be that looming White Walker in the room, eating up our attention.
But hey, maybe seeing Dunk and Egg on screen will help give Martin that push over the finish line! You never know. I'd certainly love to read about more of their adventures before.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will premiere sometime in 2025. Until then, we have season 2 of House of the Dragon, which premieres on Sunday, June 16.
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