House of the Dragonis currently on hiatus as the very firstGame of Thronesspinoff and not expected to return to HBO with Season 2 until 2024, but theGame of Thronesfantasy franchise仍在扩大。网络有哈nded down a series order for a TV adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s novellas about Ser Duncan the Tall and Egg, a.k.a. Dunk and Egg. Now, the author has opened up with some details about the new project – including an explanation of the name – and name-droppedThe Winds of Winterin his update.
The Title Of The Dunk And Egg Spinoff
Whenever a prequel series centered on these two characters has been discussed, it has generally been with the assumed title of some variation ofDunk & Egg, but HBO’s announcement on April 12 about the series gave the title asA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. Just a couple of days later, George R.R. Martin opened up about the project, saying thatA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knightis actually the working title, and could change... but not to something including the character names.
The Hedge Knightpart of the title is easy enough to explain, as that is the title of the first of Martin’s three novellas so far. But whyA Knight of the Seven Kingdomsas the working title instead of mentioning Dunk and Egg? Martin explained on hisNot A Blogwebsite:
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. If you don’t know the characters, DUNK & EGG sounds like a sitcom. LAVERNE & SHIRLEY. ABBOTT & COSTELLO. BEAVIS & BUTTHEAD. So, no. We want ‘knight’ in the title. Knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories.
The name choice omitting “Dunk & Egg” isn’t altogether shocking, as both of the other Westeros-set series on HBO changed their names from the books they’re based on. After all, the novel saga that inspiredGame of Thronesis calledA Song of Ice & Fire, andA Game of Thronesis simply the title of the first book.House of the Dragonis based on the fictional history book of the Targaryens calledFire & Blood.
Martin admitted that there’s not much else that he can say about the project other than to confirm the series order rather than pilot order, and share that it will likely run for six episodes, but that isn’t guaranteed yet. The first season will cover the events ofThe Hedge Knightas the first novella, and the pilot was penned by Ira Parker, who wrote the memorable fourth episode ofHouse of the Dragonthat involvedDaemon and Rhaenyra’s trip to the brothel. Martin himself andHOTDshowrunner Ryan Condal are on board as executive producers.
He also shared that although there’s no production start date, writing is “well underway.” HBO’s initial announcement ofKnight of the Seven Kingdomscredits Martin as a writer and executive producer, which is notable in light of the author’s statement back beforeHouse of the Dragonthat he would not be writing any scriptsuntil he finished and deliveredWinds of Winteras the long-awaited sixth book inA Song of Ice & Fire. Apparently something changed since he made that statement in 2019 – and/or saying that he wouldn’t write any scripts only applied toHOTD– so what is the latest on the novel?
The Latest Word On The Winds Of Winter
Unfortunately, George R.R. Martin didn’t have much to say aboutThe Winds of Winter, which fans have been waiting for sinceA Dance with Dragonswas published in 2011 as the fifth book ofA Song of Ice & Fire. The author has given various updates over the years, including one in 2015 aboutwanting to finish the book by 2016. In his new blog post aboutA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, he mentioned having more novellas for Dunk & Egg planned to write, but that doesn’t mean prioritizing them overWinds of Winter. He wrote:
I just need to finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, and then do either A DREAM OF SPRING or volume two of FIRE & BLOOD, and slip in a new Dunk & Egg between each of those in my copious spare time.
Well, at least we know that when it comes to his books and novellas,Winds of Winter仍有优先级的第二卷Fire & Blood和一个ny more of the Dunk & Egg stories! I can imagine thatA Dream of Spring– a.k.a. the seventh book ofA Song of Ice & Fire– is quite a ways off, but I’d be happy just to getWinds of Winterat this point, on principle. Anotherdragon-filled TV spinoff is reportedly being discussed, but I’d rather get the sixth book at this point.
For now, fans of the world of Westeros can always check out George R.R. Martin’s novellas centered on Dunk & Egg, the five books ofASOIAFso far, and/or the first volume ofFire & Blood, which I wouldsuggest doing ahead ofHouse of the DragonSeason 2if you don’t mind broad spoilers, as there are some epic moments from the book that arelikely on the way in Season 2. And of course, you can revisitGame of ThronesandHouse of the Dragonstreaming with anHBO Max subscription.
