Title change Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Finale, Dorne explained
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the season 1 finale of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” now streaming on HBO Max.
The dust from the trial of the seven has settled, the wounded are recovering from their wounds and season 1 of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has come to an end.
Dunk (Peter Claffey) is in deep disarray after his knights have won their uphill battle against Aerion Targaryen’s (Finn Bennet) team. Although Dunk emerged victorious, he feels guilty after Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel), his teammate and heir to the Iron Throne, died after an accidental fatal mace to the head of Baelor’s own brother Maekar (Sam Spruell).
After Baelor’s funeral, Maekar asks Dunk to serve under him and take his son Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) as a squire, but Dunk says that after all this he is done with princes. As the tournament draws to a close and he is visited by the ghost of his mentor Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), Dunk soon reconsiders and decides to take Egg away from the evil influence of his Targaryen family. Against Maekar’s wishes, Dunk and Egg ride away together as knight and squire. Dunk honors Ser Arlan’s tradition by nailing a penny to a tree before they leave, and Arlan’s spirit rides with him and then sets off on his own path.
On their new journey, Dunk and Egg discuss their journey to Dorne, the southern desert-covered region of Westeros. In the final scene, Maekar searches for Egg as his chariots leave, hinting that a Targaryen crossover may happen next season.
Speak with Varietyco-creator and showrunner Ira Parker reveals that season 2 will tackle George RR Martin’s second “Dunk and Egg” novella “The Mystery Knight,” why Martin shot one of the show’s original titles – and more.
Steffan Hill
First off, what’s going on at the end with the title “A Knight of the Nine Kingdoms”?
Maybe that makes me a little too funny. People may hate it or crucify me for it, but there’s a lighter touch to these shows. And I’m going to learn some things. People will have a reaction to it, and I will have a reaction to it after not seeing it for a few months. And we’ll see. I like it. Plenty of the great creatives I’ve worked with liked it too. It came from an honest place. It’s all true. At that point there are nine kingdoms. We want to make Westeros a fun place to hang out, even when terrible things are happening and everyone is sad, just like in real life. You can still joke around at a shiva, and that’s okay. We need that relief. So even in a bad place, Dunk and Egg are still Dunk and Egg.
Speaking of titles, would the show ever be called “The Tales of Dunk and Egg,” like the novellas?
At first, George said, “Just don’t call it ‘Dunk & Egg’; it sounds like ‘Laverne & Shirley.’ It sounds like a sitcom.” I said, “Oh, totally fine.” Since it was getting very late in the game as we finalized the post-production process, I was a little hesitant. I said, “Everyone just calls it ‘Dunk & Egg,’ so why don’t we call it that?” Then I was told by my assistant that it was not a wise idea. And I agree. It’s nice to see a show called ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ and get there to find that it’s just a little bit lighter and has some fun, rather than having people start with ‘Dunk & Egg’ and you kind of know what you’re going to get. I hope.
Will Dunk and Egg go to Dorne in season 2?
They’ll go to Dorne. How much of that we cover, I’ll leave for people to tune in for season 2. I don’t know if I should talk about it anymore. For the most part, we follow the books. So season 1 was ‘The Hedge Knight’. Season 2 is ‘The Sworn Sword’. Hopefully, when we get to Season 3, it will be “The Mystery Knight.”
The novellas are each their own story, but will we see any of the characters from season 1 return for season 2? It looks like Aerion and Maekar may end up looking for Egg.
The one thing about this show: the nobles, the kings and queens are all terribly interesting. So many times you want to go write for them, but the truth is that’s not what this show is. There are many shows, in this world and in other worlds, that certainly cover that part. And we are not. We are bottom-up. We’re in Dunk’s POV. Even little gentlemen and ladies, we don’t allow ourselves to go behind the scenes in their POVs. For better or for worse, that’s the storytelling we’ve set up for this show. Whether or not anyone will come in and out of Dunk’s world again, I’d say probably. Westeros is a – yes. Yes. That’s all I’ll say. Yes.
Will season 2 also consist of six episodes?
Yes. It really was the perfect amount for us. Honestly, HBO was great. They said anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes is fine, which gives us a very large target to hit. We could let them be what they needed to be, based on the source material.
How much of the Blackfyre Rebellions will we learn in season 2?
The Blackfyre Rebellions are in and out of life for Dunk and Egg, all the way until quite late, I’d say. The Second Blackfyre Rebellion plays a pretty big role in one of the books, and obviously we make a few mentions of it in Season 1. But I’d say it’s important background and informs a lot about the characters they come into contact with. Essentially, we’re fifteen years removed from a massive civil war, so there’s still a lot of those lingering resentments. There are certainly still many open wounds. One of the promises I made to George very early on was that I really wouldn’t create a story. We add something to the character and the world. We’re writing this TV show as if George had written a novel instead of a novella. So we’re just filling in things that of course he probably would have done.
But we don’t send people on side missions and we try not to get bogged down in history. These are fun, low-containment trips. It’s almost an action-adventure series. It is Dunk and his squire who have fun and adventures and get into trouble. Even if there are two years between seasons, there are no cliffhangers. We told a story and completed it. Hopefully you enjoyed it and can come back next time to see their journey.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
