Next Game Of Thrones Spinoff Update Means It'll Avoid A Franchise Problem (That HBO's Harry Potter Also Faces)

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will begin later this year, and things are already looking very promising for its future. HBO has already proved that Game of Thrones spinoffs can work thanks to the success of House of the Dragon, but now it needs to show that it can repeat the trick and there’s a viable franchise here. It’ll be up to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to do exactly that.

The prequel, based on George R.R. Martin’s The Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, is set to release later in 2025, bridging the gap with House of the Dragon season 3. The two shows are both about Targaryens, albeit in very different ways - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ story is both smaller and lighter. There could be more differences too when it comes to production, and it’ll allow the new spinoff to have an advantage over HOTD.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Season 2 & 3 Could Avoid House Of The Dragon's Problem

HBO's Plan Is Very Promising

While A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 hasn’t officially been confirmed by HBO, and season 1 itself doesn’t have a release date, the network is already thinking about the future of the series. Francesca Orsi, HBO's Head of Drama Series and Films, spoke about the plans for the show and how it would be handled, with the possibility for it to film seasons 2 and 3 back-to-back. She said:

“You’re going to be so impressed by Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell as Dunk and Egg, the two leads, the sort of brotherhood, the paternal nature between Dunk and this young man. So much so that we’re already planning on how do we build this for the three seasons in total. We’re not picking it up officially, but it’s looking very good. We’re looking at it as a holistic piece, seasons 2 and 3, because there’s three novellas.

That’s a very encouraging sign, and not just that HBO has a lot of faith in the quality of the prequel (Martin himself gave a glowing review of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms too). Filming back-to-back gives it a major advantage in terms of the gap between seasons, something that has plagued major TV shows in recent years across different services, from Stranger Things to Severance to, yes, House of the Dragon.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has a smaller scale and lower budget, which gives it an advantage anyway, but the potential shooting schedule should make it even easier. That could mean there won’t be a two-year gap between seasons, which is unlikely to ever happen with House of the Dragon (season 3 isn’t expected until 2026), allowing the show to build a greater sense of momentum and operate more like TV - including Game of Thrones - used to do.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Must Film Fast To Avoid An Issue Harry Potter Is Also Facing

There's A Potential Actor Problem For Both Shows

Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg looking over his shoulder in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

The other reason there’s a greater urgency with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms comes with one of its two main characters, Egg. The three Dunk & Egg novels cover a very short span of time - around three years (though HBO's comments suggest a shorter timeframe) - and the series needs to avoid Egg’s actor, Dexter Sol Ansell, getting too old, as Orsi noted:

“The role of Egg only spans not even a year, so you have to roll into it season to season pretty quickly, because this little kid will grow up too quickly if we wait too long. So we’re thinking about that in terms of pickups.”

It’s a problem faced by multiple shows - again, Stranger Things has it - and one HBO could well be battling on multiple fronts. Its Harry Potter remake will similarly have to avoid its child actors aging out of the roles, something that would be a problem if the gaps between seasons were 2-3 years. The scale of the series makes it a bigger problem there, but it’s seemingly one A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, at least, looks set to avoid.