Outlander star Henry Ashton is Daeron "the Drunken" Targaryen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
By Dan Selcke
The second season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon wrapped up this past weekend, and we'll likely be waiting until 2026 for more episodes. However, HBO isn't going to let us go that long without another visit to Westeros. It's readying another Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, to air sometime next year.
Set decades after the events of House of the Dragon but decades before the events of Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas by author George R.R. Martin. This first, six-episode season is based on the first of those novellas, The Hedge Knight. Here's HBO's official description:
"A century before the events ofGame of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros … a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends."
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set to be an altogether smaller, lighter series than either Thrones or Dragon. It's being filmed as we speak, and the cast is coming together. The latest addition is Henry Ashton, who played Sandy Hammond in Outlander season 7 in addition to roles in shows like A Good Girls Guide to Murder and My Lady Jane. He'll play Daeron Targaryen, the firstborn son of King Maekar I Targaryen. Known as Daeron the Drunken, Daeron isn't much of a warrior and is known to have prophetic dreams, which is possibly one reason why he's so fond of drinking. He's one of several Targaryens who show up in The Hedge Knight, which is set during a tourney in Ashford Meadow, in the Reach.
Check our the rest of the cast we know of below:
- Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall, aka Dunk, the good-hearted hero of our story
- Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg, Dunk's diminutive squire
- Danny Webb as Ser Arlan of Pennytree, an elderly knight and Dunk's master at the start of the story
- Finn Bennett as Aerion "Brightflame" Targaryen, a dramatic, half-mad Targaryen prince
- Bertie Carvel as Baelor "Breakspear" Targaryen, Aerion's much more level-headed uncle
- Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen, Aerion's dad and the eventual king of the Seven Kingdoms
- Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle, a puppeteer at the tourney
- Daniel Ings as Lyonel Baratheon, one of the participants in that tourney
- Edward Ashley as Ser Steffon Fossoway
- Shaun Thomas (How to Have Sex) as Raymun Fossoway
- Youssef Kerkour (House of Gucci) as Steely Pate
- Daniel Monks (Kaos) as Ser Manfred Dondarrion
- Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Avengers: Infinity War) as Plummer
- Ross Anderson as Humfrey Hardyng
- Steven Calvert as a Stormland knight
- Rowan Robinson as Rowan
- Abigail O'Regan in an unknown role
Danny Webb was one of the new actors revealed in the latest cast drop. Ser Arlan Pennytree the elderly knight has a small but important role, so it's good to learn more about this casting in particular.
I'm excited to see what HBO does with this show! A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms comes out sometime in 2025.
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