A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes place a century before Game Of Thrones, and centres around Ser Duncan ‘Dunk’ the Tall (former Rugby Union player Peter Claffey – Harry Wild), the title being another spelling of ‘Sir’, but then when we join him, Dunk calls himself a ‘Ser’, even though he isn’t at this point, but the future is not set.
The series opens with him burying his late father, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), lamenting his passing to a degree, and takes his sword – since there’s no point burying it with him, as it’ll only rust. Oh, and he proves that nothing starts the day better than a massive dump!
Still, once he’s washed his hands – I hope – he stops at an inn, which I first through was run by Hyacinth Bucket, but perhaps if she’d been de-aged at the time of filming.
And not too long after that, while Dunk’s waiting to speak to Ser Manfred, who’s probably off with his Earth Band, he chats with two comely lasses of virtue true.
Ser Dunk’s principal aim for this series is to attend a jousting tournament that’s coming soon in a nearby town, but soon finds a young boy, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell – The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes) tagging along, and so this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
However, we learn jousting is painful, as I often failed to understand in Defender Of The Crown on the Atari ST.
After an altercation with Prince Aerion ‘Brightflame’ Targaryen (Finn Bennett – Warfare) – for reasons you’ll discover – Dunk’s situation will lead to him partaking in a Trial of Seven, which hasn’t happened for some time, but is basically going to be a kick-ass fight.
As for the series, there’s some great action in this – the violence of which certainly earns it an easy 18-certificate, but more of it happens towards the back end of the series, and for just six, fairly short episodes, the middle section of the series is quite baggy.
As such, it’s quite a slow burn to get going, but then following the success of GoT and House Of The Dragon, the makers know that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is going to run and run, so it can let the story breathe in its own time.
That said, we get some great flashback scenes with Dunk as a young lad, and with his father rather more alive – proving Danny Webb to still be brilliant as ever (remember the Alien 3 canteen scene, above?), plus some occasional humour, such as when Dunk is starting out, and chances upon a young man stabling a horse:
- Man: “Are you Baelor Targaryen?”
Dunk: “No”
Man: “Then would you move the fuck out of the way(?)” 😀
As for the episode length, since they are sometimes just 30 minutes apiece, and I think that three would’ve been better as double-bills. It does feel a surprisingly short series, though, and I can think of one potential storyline that goes unfulfilled, though. A second has been commissioned, and is expected in 2027.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms beings on Sky Atlantic from Sunday night/Monring morning at 3am, and will be repeated at 9pm that evening.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Cert: 
Running time: 30-50 minutes per episode (6 episodes)
Release date: January 18th 2026
Studio: Sky Atlantic
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Owen Harris, Sarah Adina Smith
Writers: Ira Parker, Aziza Barnes, Hiram Martinez, Annie Julia Wyman, Ti Mikkel, Martin Parker
Based on the book series: “Tales of Dunk and Egg”: George RR Martin
Composer: Dan Romer
Cast:
Ser Duncan ‘Dunk’ the Tall: Peter Claffey
Egg: Dexter Sol Ansell
Prince Maekar Targaryen: Sam Spruell
Ser Lyonel ‘The Laughing Storm’ Baratheon: Daniel Ings
Prince Aerion ‘Brightflame’ Targaryen: Finn Bennett
Prince Baelor ‘Breakspear’ Targaryen: Bertie Carvel
Prince Daeron ‘the Drunken’ Targaryen: Henry Ashton
Ser Raymun ‘The Reluctant’ Fossoway: Shaun Thomas
Ser Steffon Fossoway: Edward Ashley
Ser Manfred Dondarrion: Daniel Monks
Ser Arlan of Pennytree: Danny Webb
Plummer: Tom Vaughan-Lawlor
Ser Roland Crakehall: Wade Briggs
Ser Humfrey Hardyng: Ross Anderson
Steely Pate: Youssef Kerkour
Lord Leo ‘Longthorn’ Tyrell: Steve Wall
Ser Humphrey Beesbury: Danny Collins
Lord Medgar Tully: Russell Simpson
Tanselle: Tanzyn Crawford
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.