A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a fun Game of Thrones show that’s too faithful for its own good

The first episode of HBO’s new Game of Thrones prequel show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has aired on HBO, and the consensus is that it’s warm, funny, and fun. I got to see all six episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms ahead of time, and I agree that it’s a solid show. One thing it has going for it is that it sticks very close to the source material: the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas by George R. R. Martin. Game of Thrones had a famously controversial ending, and a lot of fans chalk that up to the series eventually running out of source material to adapt. Prequel show House of the Dragon started to stray from its source material, Martin’s book Fire & Blood, in the second season, which wasn’t received as well as the first.

So, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is on the right track, then? Mostly, but after watching the first season, I was surprised to see there were parts where its fidelity held it back.

The pros of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

The central twosome work well together

But before we dig into that, let’s go positive. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is about a newly minted knight named Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), or so he quickly names himself when he realizes that people expect more than just “Dunk.” He’s hoping to do well enough at a tournament to get some rich nobleman to hire him, and that’s about all there is to the plot of this season. Seven Kingdoms keeps things way simpler than either of its sister shows. There’s no epic war or sprawling cast; pretty much all the action is centered around Dunk and his precocious squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell).

And that ends up being a strength, since the show is easy to digest and because Dunk and Egg are incredibly charming. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Ser Duncan the Tall is the most likable character to ever appear on one of these shows. Unlike some of the morally compromised knights we’ve met on Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, like Jaime Lannister or Daemon Targaryen, Dunk honestly believes that his role as a knight is to be just and to protect the innocent. He’s well over 6’0″ tall and built like a tank, so he’s a genuine threat in combat, but he’s got a gentle heart and little to no clue how to behave around the rich nobles he’s trying to impress, which leads to lots of instances of him sticking his foot in his mouth. He’s extremely easy to root for, especially with the clever Egg on hand to save him when he gets into awkward situations.

Basically, Dunk is an underdog, and everyone loves one of those. Both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon focus mainly on wealthy noblemen and women who know how to move among the rich and powerful, but Dunk is Westeros’ foremost working Joe. In fact, according to Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Ira Parker promised George R. R. Martin that he would never shift to the perspective of anyone from the upper class. That’s also how it works in the novellas; we rarely, if ever, leave Dunk’s side.

And that’s where the problems come up.

The cons of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

You’re who again?

Just because A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms doesn’t have the enormous cast of Game of Thrones doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of characters to get to know or that there aren’t real stakes. I won’t spoil anything explicit — you can always go read the novella ‘The Hedge Knight’ if you want the details — but I will say that Dunk and several companions end up in a life-or-death situation towards the end of the first season. In the novella, Martin mostly just sketches out these companions without really digging into who they are, and I was wondering if the show would expand on that a bit and let us get to know these people better, so we would be more afraid for them during the big climax. But we don’t; most of them remain more or less faceless.

In the worst cases, this light touch means that we don’t understand what we’re seeing. There’s one character in particular (again, I’m keeping things very vague to avoid spoilers and/or running afoul of HBO) who we meet briefly early on, only for him to return in a much more important capacity later, but the show doesn’t take time to reacquaint us with who he is. When he makes his return, Dunk treats him like the important character he is, but we have to fill in the blanks ourselves. I watched the episodes with someone who hadn’t read the novella, and this was one of a few times they had to ask, “Who is he again? Do we know him?”

The show didn’t need to break its rule about sticking so close to Dunk’s perspective, but bending it a bit could have made everything clearer, not to mention stretched out the episodes, most of which run about 30 minutes. Longer doesn’t always equal better, but that’s quite short compared to what Game of Thrones fans are used to, which rankles a bit since A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sometimes feels like it has scenes missing.

In the weeks ahead

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

This is an issue, but not so big a one as to really hurt the show. I think it’s something the series could have done better, but the stuff that works still works really well. Dunk and Egg are as lovable as characters get in the Seven Kingdoms; the lighter tone is a great tonic to the grimness of something like House of the Dragon, and the action — when it comes — hits hard. I just wish they could have made those few final tweaks that take the show from ‘very good’ to ‘great.’

Still, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms remains the change that this franchise needed. As far as the shorter episodes go, HBO is trying to ease that blow by at least guaranteeing that the series will return next year, so we won’t have to endure multi-year breaks between seasons. That’s one of the benefits of the show being smaller in scale.

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A Knight of the House of the Game of Thrones

And then, this summer, we’ll get the third season of House of the Dragon, which is as huge and sweeping as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is light and intimate. Game of Thrones fans will have a lot on their plate this year. Let’s hope it’s all delicious.