What a relief – they actually got this Game of Thrones prequel right

1 month ago 15

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms ★★★★

Huge sigh of relief – they got it right. The second Game of Thrones prequel, returning us once more to the vast fantasy realm of author George R.R. Martin, is essentially a retort to its predecessor House of the Dragon.

That series, which has a third season coming, tried to duplicate the Game of Thrones phenomenon and painfully missed. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms essentially sidesteps the franchise’s grand legacy. As a television show, it’s a (weirwood) tree change: downsized and thoughtful.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms thankfully takes a (weirdwood) tree change from Game of Thrones.

And, to be clear, the show’s creators, Martin and Ira Parker (Better Things, The Nevers), have embraced that pivot. The first time a stirring moment occurs you hear the opening notes of Ramin Djawadi’s signature Game of Thrones theme, but it’s swiftly cut off by a thunderous bowel movement; they’re pooping on fanboy expectations.

The mediaeval Kingdom of Westeros remains a brutal realm, but it’s peacetime. The only dragons are in a puppet show and there’s time for chatting to horses and morning fry ups on the campfire.

The big unit eating that breakfast is Dunk (Peter Claffey), a child of the King’s Landing slums whose years as a teenage squire are revisited in flashbacks dominated by backhanders and itinerant living. Dunk is a hedge knight – no standing, no lord, little money. When he tries to enter a tourney, seeking fame by competing with representatives from the ruling Targaryen family and various great houses, he’s knocked back. The lippy kid who follows him around, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), explains why: “your belt is made of rope”.

Dunk is naïve and lacking in self-belief, but also a straight shooter and likeable. He’s a terrific guide for a tour of Westeros that gets back to sharply drawn bit players and some anthropological details. Once again there’s dirt under the character’s nails and clothes that look lived in. Martin wrote three Dunk and Egg novellas as adventures, and Dunk gets to awkwardly dance – at a party thrown by this era’s cavalier Baratheon, Ser Lyonel (Daniel Ings) – long before the swords come out.

Peter Claffy and Dexter Sol Ansell in the new Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

With its concise episodes and chirpy dialogue between the mismatched leads, Seven Kingdoms offers a fresh take on Game of Thrones. It won’t make new fans, but it may well satisfy old ones who’d grown restless. And it’s not simply a matter of lightening the tone. Everything here is a matter of contrast. There are good people and terrible people, while betrayal remains a constant. A victory here is not simply about winning a battle, it’s about staying true to yourself in the face of systemic cruelty.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres January 19 on HBO Max.

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