A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is official and it’s coming to HBO (and the soon-to-be Max streaming platform) at an unspecified date. But, while the work on the show is still very early in its development, George R.R. Martin already has a good idea of what he wants to do with it.
According to the infamously procrastinistic author, HBO has greenlit a six-episode season of The Hedge Knight although it isn’t “set in stone, and won’t be until considerably later in the process.” Also, if you think the title is a mouthful, there’s still hope. Martin reassured fans that this is still a working title and that the final title won’t feature the name of the two main characters: Dunk and Egg. Finally, GRRM states that he’ll likely use the word “knight” for the final title of the project, saying that “knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories.”
TLDR; there’s a Gregor Clegane-sized chance the final title will be “The Hedge Knight”.
Unlike the widely successful House of the Dragon, the events of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight take place much closer to the mainline series.
The Tales of Dunk and Egg is set roughly a hundred years before the events of A Song of Ice and Fire. As a matter of fact, there’s a direct connection between one of the upcoming show’s protagonists, Egg, and a prominent character in Game of Thrones. Maester Aemon, who was originally named Aemon Targaryen before he renounced his rights to his inheritance, is the older brother of Aegon V Targaryen.
But, while the events of both shows are going to be relatively close enough for potential cameos, don’t hold your breath. Keep in mind, this is the Game of Thrones universe we’re talking about. The life expectancy in Westeros isn’t exactly long, save perhaps for the Maesters.
In the same post, Martin confirms that HBO is working on other Game of Thrones spin-offs, which is ironic since previously mentioned that some spin-offs have been dropped as recently as a few months back. Then again, Martin did mention that the unannounced projects haven’t gotten the greenlight yet, saying that it’s “impossible to say” how long HBO will take to give the other shows the go signal and which ones will ever become official.
Given that The Hedge Knight won’t likely last longer than a single season, we’re hoping to see the show premiere sooner rather than later.
Perhaps HBO is saving The Hedge Knight for Max in 2025 as a way to tide audiences over while waiting for the third season of House of the Dragon following the premiere of Season 2 in 2024.
Ultimately, now that Warner Bros. Discovery seems open to working on single-season Game of Thrones spin-offs, maybe we’ll finally get a chance to see the other spin-offs that were reportedly in development many years ago. If memory serves us right, HBO was sitting on several ideas, including one about Aegon’s Conquest, another about Robert’s Rebellion, and, finally, the Doom of Valkyria, as recently as 2017/18.
