<\/p>\n
Sweeping battles, larger-than-life characters destined for greatness, and lots of dragons … every “Game of Thrones” fan has been conditioned to expect these things from this franchise, but that’s finally about to change. Viewers may be in for quite a surprise with “A Knight of the\u00a0Seven Kingdoms,” HBO’s latest spin-off\/prequel series from the imagination of author George R.R. Martin. Today brought us our first official look at the trailer for the upcoming show<\/a>, and it’s already clear that it will be forging its own identity altogether in the world of Westeros. But a closer look at the footage brings to mind a completely different fantasy property altogether \u2014 one that stands as a cautionary tale for what co-creator and showrunner Ira Parker hopes to accomplish here.<\/p>\n Those who found themselves charmed by this glimpse into the rough-and-tumble adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his loyal squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) may be reminded of the show’s spiritual ancestor:\u00a0J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” Famously (or infamously, depending on your perspective), that roughly 300-page children’s novel made its way to the big screen through Peter Jackson’s prequel films. It’s hardly a secret that the production of the “Hobbit” movies was largely a mess<\/a>, and much of that boils down to the misguided notion of taking a small-scale story and blowing it up to the level of, well, “The Lord of the Rings.”<\/p>\n In an odd way, “A Knight of the\u00a0Seven\u00a0Kingdoms” gives its creative team the opportunity to learn a crucial lesson of what not<\/em> to do. Fortunately, we have a sneaking suspicion that this is exactly what they’ll pull off. Here’s how.<\/p>\n