A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Review
Is the Game Of Thrones Shortest Spin-off series a worthy entry?
It’s safe to say that A Song of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin is one of the most well-known fantasy series around, and while fans may still be waiting for the next book in the series to arrive, they’ve had a lot to look forward to and have been rewarded well in the past. Not many can say that their favourite book series has gotten an almost incredible adaptation. Game of Thrones might have had an infamous final season, but its previous seven seasons raised it to both popularity and critical acclaim. Such success allowed it to spawn several spin-offs, the first being House of the Dragon, which will have its third season release later this year. The second spin-off comes in the form of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Based on the novella Tales of Dunk and Egg, this is set a century before the events of Game of Thrones and follows Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), a hedge knight who comes across a young boy by the name of Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) who wishes to be his squire and help in his goal to participate in the latest jousting tournament.
With this new show, the first thing you notice is that although it’s set within the world of Game of Thrones, it feels very different from both that show and House of the Dragon. There are going to be some people who only sit around with the Game of Thrones franchise because of its high fantasy elements, which involve dragons, the use of magic and much more, but this time round all that is but tales used for plays and entertainment. It’s going to turn some people away but, I must say, at least watch the first half before completely giving up.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms feels like a complete breath of fresh air compared to everything else that we’ve witnesses. Dunk isn’t of high nobility and is a lowborn hedge knight who wants to honour his master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), who unfortunately passed away. He’s not connected to any house and is simply a guy trying to make a living. His life only begins to take a turn when he finds Egg strapped by his side. This show has everything you can expect from a Game of Thrones show: sex, blood, betrayal, and murder. But its biggest plus is something that I struggle to find in any other Game of Thrones show, and that’s the relationship between Dunk and Egg.
It forms over the course of six episodes and tells a found family story. With Dunk having recently lost the only person he had to look up to and Egg, with his mysterious background, looking for someone that he can look up to, they find each other, and both Peter Claffey’s and Dexter Sol Ansell’s performances and chemistry truly bring a warm touch to the franchise, which is honestly quite rare to see. This may sound like an out-there comparison, but Dunk and Egg is a similar relationship to Batman and Robin, two characters who need each other at their lowest point and highlight each other’s best qualities.
Admittedly, the first two episodes can be seen as quite slow, as they set up Dunk trying to find permission from someone who knew Ser Arlan so that he may participate in the tournament. The show slightly picks up with the arrivals of the Targaryens, who are described as “incestuous aliens” whose “only honourable thing they can do is finish on their wife’s tits”. Now that’s a way to describe them, but I unfortunately can’t disagree. Once the Targaryens arrive, it begins to stir up the pot for both Dunk and Egg, with Episode three having an insane reveal to Episode five’s battle that gives us insight into Dunk’s character with his backstory.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is Game of Thrones’ shortest show with only six episodes, and each episode reaches roughly a runtime of 30 minutes, but it was enough to make me want more tales and adventures with Dunk and Egg. With the focus being on two characters instead of an entire ensemble, the story feels more intimate and emotional, which works in its favour given the short runtime and manages to stick with the fantastic pacing all the way through.
Its differences from the previous shows might make it hard to get into, but Dunk and Egg’s relationship and the secrets in store make this a worthy addition to the Game of Thrones franchise.
★★★★
On Sky and NowTV from January 19th / Peter Claffey, Dexter Sol Ansell, Finn Bennett, Bertie Carvel, Tanzyn Crawford, Daniel Ings, Sam Spruell / Creators: Ira Parker and George R. R. Martin/ HBO / 18
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