{"id":2233573,"date":"2026-01-13T22:02:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2233573"},"modified":"2026-01-13T22:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:02:06","slug":"game-of-thrones-spinoff-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/game-of-thrones-spinoff-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-review\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Game of Thrones&#8217; spinoff &#8216;A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms&#8217;: review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F01%2Fgame-of-thrones-prequel-series.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Chaos is a ladder.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>HBO\u2019s third show in the \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d world is here after<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/08\/19\/house-of-the-dragon-review-brutal-creepy-got-prequel\/\"> \u201cHouse of the Dragon.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms\u201d is a departure from the first two. It\u2019s lighter in tone, in episode length (Season 1 is a mere six episodes, most of which are 30 to 40 minutes long) and in scope, as it has just two main characters.<\/p>\n<p>The second spinoff isn\u2019t as good as \u201cGoT\u201d was at its best, but it\u2019s better than it was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2019\/05\/19\/how-the-final-season-of-game-of-thrones-blew-it-more-than-lost\/\">at its worst.<\/a> It\u2019s also far superior to the dreary slog of \u201cHouse of the Dragon.\u201d It\u2019s a jaunt to Westeros that\u2019s not especially deep or epic, but it\u2019s a jolly good time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><figcaption>Peter Claffey as Duncan the Tall in \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.\u201d  <span class=\"credit\">Steffan Hill\/HBO<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell in \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">HBO Max<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Premiering Sunday, Jan. 18 on HBO (10 p.m.), \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms\u201d is based on George R.R. Martin\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-aps-asc-tag=\"nypost-20\" data-aps-asin=\"\" data-wrapped-template=\"https:\/\/r.nypostlink.com?btn_ref=org-19984c113c692001&amp;btn_url\" href=\"https:\/\/r.nypostlink.com?btn_ref=org-19984c113c692001&amp;btn_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FTales-Dunk-Egg%2Fs%3Fk%3DTales%20of%20Dunk%20and%20Egg%26tag%3Dnypost-20%26asc_refurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2026%2F01%2F13%2Fentertainment%2Fgame-of-thrones-spinoff-a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-review%2F%26asc_source%3Dweb\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cTales of Dunk and Egg\u201d <\/a>novellas. HBO has already renewed it for a second season.<\/p>\n<p>The story is set around a hundred years before the events of \u201cGame of Thrones.\u201d It follows Ser Duncan the Tall, a k a Dunk, (Peter Claffey) a hedge knight, (a nomadic knight with no land or money), and Egg, (Dexter Sol Ansell), a young boy who becomes his squire.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Remember the \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d plot where the Hound (Rory McCann) and Arya (Maisie Williams) traveled around having adventures together? If that had been the whole show, that\u2019s \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,\u201d just with more staid main character personalities.\u00a0Dunk and Egg are more polite and less chaotic than Arya and the Hound.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell in \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">HBO Max<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Claffey in \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">HBO Max<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The show makes it clear that we\u2019re definitely back in Westeros. There are silver-haired Targaryens, violence, bawdy jokes, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/06\/04\/got-star-nathalie-emmanuel-bosses-always-expect-nude-scenes\/\">more full frontal nudity<\/a> than there really needs to be, references to Baratheons, spooky prophecies. There\u2019s even a callback to a famously emotional \u201cGoT\u201d scene to tug on your heartstrings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But Dunk is a nobody, which is a nice departure from the other Westeros shows that focus on kings. He\u2019s not rich, he\u2019s not especially smart, he\u2019s not important to anyone. He\u2019s an ordinary man who is just trying to navigate this world. <\/p>\n<p>As a simple and decent man, he\u2019s not as thrilling as a character like Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) or a \u201clove to hate them\u201d character like Cersei (Lena Headey), but he\u2019s an easy protagonist to root for in his own right, the same way the Starks were in \u201cGoT.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Claffey in \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">HBO Max<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Claffey in \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">HBO Max<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After the muddled \u201cHouse of the Dragon\u201d tried to make Targaryens sympathetic, it\u2019s also nice to see a Targaryen be evil again, as the antagonist is the sneering Prince Aerion \u201cBrightflame\u201d Targaryen (Finn Bennett).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA Knight\u201d does have its pitfalls \u2013 in its attempts to be lighter than the other shows, it has an over-reliance on toilet humor. At times, it feels like it\u2019s proving that <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/screencrush.com\/snl-game-of-thrones\/\">2012\u00a0\u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d sketch<\/a> true (when then-cast member Andy Samberg pretended to be a teen boy who secretly wrote \u201cGoT\u201d). At other points, the show feels like it\u2019s trying to be \u201cMonty Python.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, it does nail the tough job of weaving a more humorous tone together with moments of grim violence and gravity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Dexter Sol Ansell in \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.\u201d  <span class=\"credit\">HBO Max<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Finn Bennett in \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.\u201d  <span class=\"credit\">HBO Max<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s not quite a comedy, although it\u2019s more of a romp than the other \u201cGoT\u201d shows. It\u2019s not quite a political intrigue show, though there are moments of maneuvering. It\u2019s not an epic battle show, though there is a violent action sequence or two. It walks a fine line and deftly balances several different tones. Aside from some juvenile humor, it all comes together well, into an interesting stew with unlikely ingredients blending together.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re feeling Westeros fatigue, it\u2019s not a must watch. But if you\u2019ve got any energy left in the tank for a return to this world, \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms\u201d is brimming with shaggy charm.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chaos is a ladder.\u00a0 HBO\u2019s third show in the \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d world is here after \u201cHouse of the Dragon.\u201d \u201cA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms\u201d is a departure from the first two. It\u2019s lighter in tone, in episode length (Season 1 is a mere six episodes, most of which are 30 to 40 minutes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2233574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[21741,330562,389623,21917,21913],"class_list":["post-2233573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-entertainment","tag-game-of-thrones","tag-george-rr-martin","tag-hbo","tag-tv"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Game-of-Thrones-spinoff-A-Knight-of-the-Seven-Kingdoms.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2233573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2233575,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2233573\/revisions\/2233575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2233574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2233573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2233573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2233573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}