7 shows to binge if you loved A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

The first season of HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has come to an end, and by and large, it was terrific. People loved revisiting the Seven Kingdoms, they loved the lighter tone, and mostly they loved the chemistry between the central duo: the newly minted knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his smart-mouthed, diminutive squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell).

We won’t be watching new episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for a while, but while you wait, there are plenty of other genre shows about a mentor and mentee teaming up to take on the world.

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The Mandalorian

And maybe another Star Wars show like it

The Mandalorian is the first ever live-action Star Wars TV show, and it was a hint right from the jump. It pairs up the gruff, no-nonsense Mandalorian warrior Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) with the precious Grogu, aka Baby Yoda. The two form a bond and travel the galaxy together, going on adventures. Grogu very much acts as Din Djarin’s squire, training to become like him and helping where he can.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is another Star Wars TV with a similar adult-and-child team-up dynamic, but The Mandalorian is better. It’ll also make the jump to the big screen very soon in The Mandaorian & Grogu, which will mark the first time in years that there’s been a new Star Wars movie out.

Release Date: 2019 – 2023-00-00
Network: Disney+
Showrunner: Jon Favreau
Directors: Rick Famuyiwa, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dave Filoni, Carl Weathers, Peyton Reed, Deborah Chow, Jon Favreau, Peter Ramsey, Robert Rodriguez, Taika Waititi, Lee Isaac Chung
Writers: Jon Favreau

Hawkeye

Lone Wolf and Cub, Marvel-style

They gave Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) his own TV show! It starts with the bow-and-arrow-wielding superhero just trying to enjoy a Christmas outing with his family, but inevitably snowballs into a prolonged battle against organized crime. Along the way, Hawkeye encounters Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), an admirer who’s almost as good with a bow-and-arrow as he is.

Hawkeye has the mentor-mentee theme, a light tone, and the technical consistency you expect from a Marvel production. It doesn’t dig as deep as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but is still a fun quick watch.

Release Date: 2021 – 2020
Writers: Don Heck, Jonathan Igla

The Last of Us

The fungus among us

The Last of Us, on the other hand, gets a good deal bleaker than A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. This time we’re in a zombie apocalypse, where the gruff survivor Joel (Pedro Pascal again) must escort the headstrong young Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a ruined United States. They start off at odds but form a deep bond.

In fact, the bond is so strong that it leads them to do things that might cross some moral and ethical lines. The Last of Us is one of the best video game adaptations yet made, and could pave the way for more in the near future.

Release Date: January 15, 2023
Network: HBO
Showrunner: Craig Mazin
Directors: Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
Writers: Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, Halley Wegryn Gross

Sweet Tooth

If Egg had antlers

Sweet Tooth is also set after the apocalypse, although this one was caused by disease rather than zombies. It’s about Gus (Christian Convery), a young boy who happens to also be part-deer, which is a thing that can happen in this world. After his father dies, Gus goes looking for his mother in faraway Colorado, escorted by a traveler named Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie).

Sweet Tooth sort of feels like a dark fairy tale, with sweetness and grimness mixed in. And the knight-squire dynamic is very much in evidence with Gus and Tommy.

Release Date: 2021 – 2024-00-00
Showrunner: Jim Mickle
Directors: Jim Mickle
Writers: Jim Mickle

Merlin

The original fantasy duo

Merlin is set in Arthurian England, where there actually were knights and squires. In this version of the legend, a young Merlin (Colin Morgan) is assigned to be the manservant of Arthur Pendragon (Arthur Pendragon), the man who will become King Arthur. They’re much closer in age than other pairings on this list, and end up acting more like rival brothers than a mentor and mentee. They start out disliking each other, but end up growing close and teaming up to take on a mutual enemy.

Merlin has a bit of a YA vibe, and at five seasons offers plenty of content for anyone who wants to go on a new TV adventure.

Release Date: 2008 – 2012
Network: BBC One
Showrunner: Julian Jones

Bradley James

Arturo Pendragon

Lone Wolf and Cub movies

This formula goes way back

If you haven’t noticed, the idea of constructing a story around an older protector and younger charge is very popular. A lot of it can be traced back to the success of Lone Wolf and Cub, a manga series that ran in the 1970s about a ronin named Ogami Ittō who travels from place to place seeking revenge against those who wronged him. The catch is that he’s also raising his young son Daigoro at the same time, so he has to impart life lessons and teach the kid how to tie his shoes in between battles with deceitful ninjas. Eventually, Daigoro follows in his father’s footsteps.

The Lone Wolf and Cub manga was turned into a series of six extremely entertaining movies starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami and Tomikawa Akihiro as Daigoro. It isn’t a TV show, but it fits this trope perfectly, so it has to be on the list.

Release Date: December 30, 1972
Runtime: 81 minutes
Director: Buichi Saitō

Tomisaburō Wakayama

Ogami Itto
Akihiro Tomikawa

Ogami Daigoro

Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon

Obviously

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is spun off from Game of Thrones, so obviously you should feel free to check out the mothership show if you want to explore more of the Seven Kingdoms (or nine kingdoms, depending on how you count). Game of Thrones is a good deal darker in tone than A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (and the other prequel series House of the Dragon is even darker than that), but you’ll find more complex characters, epic swordfights, and crackling drama within.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will return (and sooner than you think)

Or you could just wait for the second season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which should be coming out no later than a year after the first. HBO got a jump on filming the second season of this show because it didn’t want fans to have to wait too long, which is a nice change of pace after they had to wait multiple years between new seasons of House of the Dragon. And HBO is filming the third season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms right after they’re done shooting the second, so we can look forward to plenty of new adventures for Dunk and Egg.