

“The Dunk & Egg novellas are fully-fleshed narratives more like the novels of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE than the imaginary history of FIRE & BLOOD,” Martin notes in his blog, “The stories are right there on the page, and our goal is to produce faithful adaptations of those tales for the screen.

He envisions the full series as a kind of anthology based on the three existing Dunk & Egg novellas: “The Hedge Knight,” “The Sworn Sword,” and “The Mystery Knight.” Martin says HBO has given A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms a full season 1 order of six episodes. Knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories. If you don’t know the characters, DUNK & EGG sounds like a sitcom. I love Dunk and I love Egg, and I know that fans refer to my novellas as “the Dunk & Egg stories,” sure, but there are millions of people out there who do not know the stories and the title needs to intrigue them too. Whether that will be the final title, I can’t say for sure… beyond saying that no, it won’t be called TALES OF DUNK & EGG or THE ADVENTURES OF DUNK & EGG or DUNK & EGG or anything along those lines. The working title will be A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS: THE HEDGE KNIGHT.

Now they’re finally getting their moment - but Martin was never going to give his readers the pleasure of hearing “Dunk & Egg” in an HBO show name. “Dunk & Egg” are fan-favorite characters and were long been rumored to either be incorporated into the main Game of Thrones series, or spun off into their own show when the flagship series wrapped up.

Fans of the authors’ prose are already familiar with the source material, a series of short novellas following the adventures of a knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his squire Egg, who in the history of Westeros goes on to become none other than King Aegon V Targaryen. True to his web 1.0 lineage, the Max announcement prompted Martin to post an update on his blog about the development of the series, in which he clarified his intentions and hopes for the series. Honestly it sounds like a bit of a headache! But wherever the media winds blow, Martin sails - not only will he produce the series like he has the previous two installments, but he’ll also pen all the episodes alongside House of the Dragon writer Ira Parker. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was previously announced along with plans to reboot HBO Max as “Max,” the rebranded streaming service set to launch on May 23. His latest project: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, a new spinoff of Game of Thrones to join HBO and Max’s House of the Dragon, which is gearing up for a second season. The pages might not be The Winds of Winter, much to A Song of Ice and Fire fans’ dismay, but no one can say the 74-year-old author doesn’t Do the Work.
