Before Game of Thrones ended in 2019, HBO was working on ways to keep the roll going with a number of spinoffs. After some trial and error, they settled on House of the Dragon, a prequel that is returning this summer for its second season. And House of the Dragon was such a hit that they decided to greenlight another prequel: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight.
That is a long title I hope get shaved down a little before the show makes it to air, probably exclusively on the Max streaming service. The show is based on George R.R. Martin's Dunk and Egg novellas, a small-scale story (well, small scale in comparison to the epic tales told in Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon) about a knight named Duncan the Tall and his precocious squire Egg, aka Aegon V Targaryen. When this show was first announced, I assumed it would be a while before it got off the ground, but we heard about casting as early as last October. Filming on the first season was reportedly going to take place this summer.
That may still be in flux. Speaking to TheWrap at the 75th Annual Emmy Awards earlier this week, HBO CEO Casey Bloys confirmed that the plan is for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight (I'm just calling it The Hedge Knight from now on, yeesh) to film this year. However, he also said that casting and writing was still in progress. Given that, I could see things moving around a bit. This is a show HBO will want to take the time to get right.
Other Game of Thrones spinoffs (including the Jon Snow show) nowhere near completion
Bloys also reiterated that no other Game of Thrones spinoffs have been greenlit. That includes the sequel series about Jon Snow that actor Kit Harington has been developing.
"I think with a show like [Game of Thrones], when somebody reads that something is in development, there becomes an expectation that that is being shot, which is not the case. So right now the only two things that are greenlit are ‘House of the Dragon,’ obviously, and ‘The Hedge Knight.’ There are a lot of other projects in development but I don’t have anything imminent to report."
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think two Game of Thrones is about the most HBO can have on at one time without it seeming like they're shamelessly milking the franchise. No one wants Game of Thrones to go the way of Marvel and become oversaturated to the point of irritation and exhaustion, right?
In the more immediate future, the next thing on HBO's docket is House of the Dragon season 2, which is coming out sometime this summer.
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