Steven Prusakowski
It has been seven years since Game of Thrones ended and at New York ComicCon fans are still hungry for more of George R.R. Martin’s world of Westeros. What better way to introduce a new Game of Thrones series than by having George do it himself. That is what happened at NYCC when Martin joined showrunner Ira Parker and stars Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell on stage for the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms panel. The group debuted the official trailer and talked about the show’s more grounded take on the Seven Kingdoms.
The series is based on Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas. It follows a lowborn hedge knight and his sharp young squire roughly a century before the original series. The trailer offered a first look at the mud the armor and the jousting at Ashford Meadow. (Watch below)
Martin still holds the original story in high regard. “Dunk and Egg the Hedge Knight came to me very very quickly and I love that. This is one of the best things I’ve ever done. I still feel that way” he said. “Ira and his amazing team have done an amazing job of adapting that and what you see is going to be very similar to what I wrote.” He also set a clear goal for the action. “I set [the show’s team] a challenge which I think Ira and people have delivered. I said ‘Let’s do the best jousting sequences that have been ever put on film.’ A modest little challenge for Ira and this group.” He added “You guys can judge how well we did but I think we did pretty well.”
Parker explained the different approach. “Following Dunk on this journey should be a very grounded gritty earthy ground-up feel. We’ve never had this perspective before. Somebody who grew up in the slums of King’s Landing as an orphan who came up in this world. [He] didn’t have a name didn’t have an inheritance didn’t have any money doesn’t have the best training in the whole world and he’s just trying to make it. He’s trying to go out and do something hard that he’s never done before. He’s out of his comfort zone. And hopefully a lot of that will resonate with a lot of our audience.” He also said “We also did something hopefully no one’s ever seen before which is a tournament at night which just looks badass.”
Claffey and Ansell showed real chemistry on stage. Claffey talked about working with his co-star. “Dexter started filming at the age of 9 and he’s 11 now. And the concept that you’re working with a 9-year-old is over within half an hour of a day on set and you realize you’re working with a 25-year-old in an 11-year-old’s body. He’s just incredibly mature and… I’m really in awe… And I do think Dunk looks up to Egg a lot and looks to him for guidance. And I find myself doing the exact same thing with Dexter.”
Ansell added his own take on the experience. “It’s definitely I think the lighter version of this because I haven’t watched Game of Thrones is probably the most disturbing thing I’ve still been in. It’s not pitch perfect happy blah-de-blah.”
They shared one set story. “One of my favorite ways to decompress after set because we had so much work to do was to come back and kick Dexter’s ass in Mario Kart” Claffey said. Ansell replied right away “I kept winning!”
Claffey also described Dunk’s background. The character tries to leave behind the boy from Flea Bottom “almost half-human half-dog roaming the streets.” He said “It serves him to know that that is who he is in certain situations towards the end of our story. It serves him to have that personality that ‘never give up’ and ‘fight tooth and nail’ sort of characteristic. So I think he gets to sort of accept himself. It’s one big violent therapy session.”
The panel painted a picture of a smaller, dirtier version of Westeros centered on two underdogs. If you are expecting dragons, you may be disappointed.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres January 18, 2026 on HBO and Max.
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