A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms update eases worries about Game of Thrones repeating a $2.9 billion franchise disaster

An update on the next one Game of Thrones spinoff show, A knight of the seven kingdoms (once and Maybe Still currently subtitled The Hedge KnightAs this remains unconfirmed), there are concerns about repeating mistakes made by a different fantasy franchise. House of the Dragon is the only spinoff show to make it to air since Game of Thrones‘ ends in 2019, with two seasons under his belt so far (and two more confirmed), but that will change in 2025.

A knight of the seven kingdoms‘ story will take audiences to a different part of Westeros, set around 90 years earlier Game of Thrones timeline (and roughly 80 years after House of the Dragon). Based on George RR Martin S The Tales of Dunk and Ai Novels, it follows Sir Duncan the High and his squire, Ai, on adventures in Westeros. It promises to be quite a different show too Game of Thrones And House of the DragonAnd this is a good thing.

The Tales of Dunk and Egg Stories is a song from Ice and Fire’s version of The Hobbit

The prequels have a very different tone

A Song of Ice and Fires similarities to Lord of the Rings are clear as the differences: Martin was heavily influenced by JRR Tolkien when crafting his own epic fantasy saga, but also wanted to avoid falling into the traps that many other post-LOTR Novels, such as this, are simply too derivative of Tolkien’s work. And so, if ASOIF is his version of Lord of the RingsSimilar in scope but subverting typical fantasy tropes and expectationsthen The Tales of Dunk and Ai Novels are his The Hobbit.

like the habit, They take place several decades before the “main” story, and have a lot of elements that readers will recognize while still having unique characters and locations. but most of all, The Tales of Dunk and Ai are, like The HobbitMuch shorter, broader reads Like the vast tomes they are related to. The books have more humor, the struggles are much more personal in scale than a war to rule the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and the tone, though still its own darkness and brutality, is much lighter.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ plot made me worried about repeating the Hobbit movies’ problems

Will HBO turn the story into something too epic?

I love The Tales of Dunk and Ai novels and I’m delighted to see them adapted to the screen, as they are highly entertaining stories filled with great characters, fun adventures, and many fascinating bits of world-building and lore (such as how it draws on the Blackfire Rebellion, which happened around 13 years before the first book). But I was concerned, also because Reading the stories does not Exactly Suggest a long-running, multi-episode TV show like Game of Thrones Or House of the Dragon.

It was something of a relief to hear A knight of the seven kingdoms Season 1 would only have six episodesBut even that didn’t assuage my concerns about things being stretched too thin. There are only three books, and they are all very short. The Hedge Knight has 160 pages; The audiobook is just under three hours long (!), and that could be six hours with HBO’s schedule for the show.

I have seen, quite disastrously, how this can backfire The Hobbit himself. Rather than one fun fantasy prequel movie to Lord of the RingsThey were turned into three movies totaling almost eight hours in runtime for the non-extended editions. They made a lot of money, sure (nearly $3 billion at the box office for three movies would suggest the plan worked), but in terms of quality they were a bloated mess. Almost all the charm, wit and lightness of the book is lostIn favor of trying to recreate the grand epic scope and scale of Lord of the Rings.

of course, A knight of the seven kingdoms is a TV show, and the situations aren’t the same, but with three novellas totaling around 10 hours in audiobook length turned into three seasons that could be triple that, it’s enough to make me uneasy. Similarly, HBO has had tremendous success with Game of Thrones And House of the Dragon Which, for all their differences, are both huge shows that deliver a massive spectacle. Wouldn’t they want to continue that with the next spinoff?

A knight of the seven kingdoms’ budget avoids the hobbit’s problem

GRRM is also happy with what he saw from the Game of Thrones spinoff

Fortunately, one part of my concern is eased, and by none other than the author of the books himself. Martin discussed A knight of the seven kingdoms‘ Budget in a blog post, said that it is “Phil smaller” (The emphasis is his). That’s great to hear, because even though they’re still committed to the show, it looks great They are not trying to just make it look like Game of Thrones. contrast to The Hobbit trilogy, which had a budget of more than double that Lord of the Rings Movies, and it’s definitely a positive sign.

I’m still not 100% sure how the expansion of the story will work, and what they will add or deepen to allow for what I assume will be six hour-long episodes. But the fact that they are aiming to keep the tone and spirit of the book is a fantastic step, and should ensure that we get a true adaptation. Moreover, Martin himself has a lot of praise for A knight of the seven kingdoms So far – he said “love” The rough cut of the first episode is shown. And if it’s good enough for him, then it should hopefully be good enough for everyone too.