TL;DR – A concise, character-driven return to Westeros that proves how powerful focused storytelling can be.

Disclosure – I paid for the HBO Max service that viewed this series.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Review –

I am going to admit up front that I came into this series quite cautiously. The Game of Thrones universe has brought me much joy in the past. However, we have seen in the past with Season 8 of GoT and Season 2 of HotD that it is a very precarious world that can fall apart at short notice. Was I willing to let my heart be broken for a third time, because I think that makes it shame on me? Well, like a fool, I gave it a go, and I think that was the right choice.     

So, to set the scene, we open with Duncan (Peter Claffey) burying his Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb) in the ground, now all alone, no real skills to call his own. While he may not have skills that would earn him honest employment, he could be a knight. Taking on the moniker of Ser Duncan the Tall, claiming that his master knighted him in his dying moments. There is a tournament in Ashford, which is a substantial risk, because he does not have the money to ransom back his horses even if he fails once. But maybe the young, orphaned Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), whom he meets along the road and cons his way into being a squire, might bring the luck he needs. Or a complication that will completely change his life. One of the two probably … or, more likely, both. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

Casting

It is quite often ignored, but casting might be one of the most important parts of pre-production, and it is here where the series shines. Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell have such amazing chemistry together on screen that it’s electric. It has that quality of siblings that are an age apart, or a favourite uncle and a nephew they adore. The underlying tension of nobility versus acceptability does not work if you don’t care for them. Peter Claffey has that noble but stubborn quality to him that he feels like a wall that not even the royalty of the realm can touch. The fact that he is built like a brick s…house, does not hurt. Also, Dexter Sol Ansell has this naïvety about his performance that also holds just a touch of dragon menace behind it.

This also extends to the larger supporting cast. Daniel Ings absolutely captivates in every scene he is in, because he plays Ser Lyonel Baratheon as a chaos gremlin, and you can never tell just what he would do next. I adored Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway, this loyal, if very sheltered, squire. Even Finn Bennett as Prince Aerion “Brightflame” Targaryen captures that perfect nepo baby feel of someone who has been handed everything in life on a silver platter and has never truly felt any peril. Indeed, the show sidesteps the problem a lot of fantasy shows have by introducing a ton of new characters that we have to keep track of. Because it is all set in one location, we get to know everyone throughout the season, making those choices at the end hit harder.  

Pacing

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, unlike many, many, many other shows on streaming services, respects your time. Including credits, the longest episode is only 42 minutes, yet they do more in that short time than most shows do in a season. Take In the Name of the Mother, in those 37 minutes, they have one of the best action set pieces in the show’s history, with all the weight of the outcome landing, while also having an in-depth flashback of Dunk’s childhood, and a primer to the aftermath of the first Blackfire Rebellion.

At no point do these episodes feel rushed, and at no point do they feel padded out. When people realised that streaming services allowed you to escape the 60-minute model of terrestrial television, I’m not sure the industry took the right lessons from that freedom. This is a season that showed that efficient and engaging storytelling should be the goal, and I am glad they focused on that because it made watching this show a delight. Each episode left me wanting to see more, and that is what a good show should do.     

Worldbuilding

Even though we spent most of the season in the muck or under one specific oak tree, I will say that this is one of the best-looking shows on television at the moment. I think that is because they don’t overlook the small details. It feels like a world because the stadiums feel full, the camps feel lived in, and the castles feel old. Much of the narrative is told through worldbuilding, and people often forget that. But not here. The clothes people wear tell so much about their story, and you can feel that there were no shortcuts here. Yes, because this is a show set in an established world, they had a lot of previous work that they could draw upon. However, it still felt fresh, and not a rehash of props pulled out of storage.

Music

I have very much enjoyed Dan Romer’s musical scores in recent years, with Luca and Station Eleven being notable examples. However, he was stepping into big shoes here with the original Game of Thrones score being an iconic touchstone for modern television that I think people who have never watched the show would still be able to spot it. The show knows this and even gives you a couple of fake-outs with the main theme. However, Dan builds a soundscape that feels like it belongs in this world, yet also does not feel like a rehash of what comes before. They do eventually play the theme in all its glory, but it is an earned moment rather than just plopped there. A good comparison for this would be Mick Giacchino’s score for Skeleton Crew. Though, if I am to be honest, I was not expecting as much jazz as we got towards the end.    

Narrative

I’ve not read the short story this season is based on, but from all accounts, this is a fantastic adaptation. Essentially, this season is the story about how a small town in the realm called Ashford became the central location of a cataclysmic event that would ripple through time in the show. Indeed, the impact of this tournament was still being felt in the time of the original Game of Thrones. This is not the first show that precipitates its narrative on what happens when a wildcard that has no business being there causes a ruckus. Indeed, that is the main drive in all the later works of Foundation. Here, I think it works well because Dunc is so out of his element that he becomes a mirror to all the characters that have spent their lives trading away their honour for glory, or safety, or getting that one step further up the ladder.   

Aside from a flashback or two, most of this season happens over the space of about a week, which is wild when you think just how many momentous events go down. The entire dynasty line of succession is forever altered. This is an Abdication of Edward VIII-level chaotic event. However, while all of these ground-shifting events are going down, the show always makes an effort to position the events around the humanity of the characters rather than the legacy we, the audience, know is happening in the moment. It is moments like taking the time to show a close-up on Dunc’s terrified eyes behind his visor when the world is crashing down around him. It is touches like this that make the show work so well.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms? Yes, yes, we do. Every episode was this odd mix of being both grounded and electric. You become captivated by the world of this fake-hedge knight and his journey with a Targaryen, one who could never be king, well, okay, hold that thought for a moment. We get the rush of action as the horse stampeded towards the camera, the grounding of reality in the fear of faces, and the realisation that one mace swing changed the course empire. Have you watched A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms? Let us know what you thought of the new series in the comments below.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Directed by – Owen Harris & Sarah Adina Smith
Written by – Ira Parker, Ti Mikkel, Aziza Barnes, Hiram Martinez, & Annie Julia Wyman
Created by – Ira Parker & George R.R. Martin
Based On – The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin
Production/Distribution Companies – Friendly Wolf Pictures, GRRM, HBO Entertainment & HBO Max
Starring – Peter Claffey & Dexter Sol Ansell
With – Daniel Ings, Shaun Thomas, Sam Spruell, Danny Webb, Henry Ashton, Finn Bennett, Bertie Carvel, Youssef Kerkour, Edward Ashley, Tanzyn Crawford, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, & Daniel Monks
And – Oscar Morgan, Wade Briggs, Rowan Robinson, Cara Harris, Ross Anderson, Danny Collins, William Houston, LJ Bennion, Bamber Todd, Chloe Lea, Steve Wall, Paul Hunter, Tom Godwin, Carla Harrison-Hodge, Ellie McHale-Roe, Donal O’Hanlon, Abigail O’Regan, David Pearse, Russell Simpson, & Bill Ward  
Episodes Covered – The Hedge Knight, Hard Salt Beef, The Squire, Seven, In the Name of the Mother & The Morrow