Game of Thrones spin-off’s next update eases fears of $2.9 billion franchise repeating mistake

Update about next Game of Thrones spin-off show, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (previously and May be still with subtitles Hedge Knightas it remains unconfirmed), eases concerns about repeating the mistakes made by another fantasy franchise. House of the Dragon the only spin-off show to air since Game of Throneswill end back in 2019, with two seasons currently under its belt (and two more confirmed), but that will change in 2025.

Knight of the Seven KingdomsThe story will take viewers to another part of Westeros, set approximately 90 years ago. Game of Thrones timeline (and approximately 80 years after House of the Dragon). Based on the book by George R.R. Martin. Tales of Dank and the Egg The novellas chronicle the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg in Westeros. This promises to be a completely different show. Game of Thrones And House of the Dragonand that’s good.

The Tales Of Dunk & Egg Stories is a version of The Hobbit from A Song of Ice and Fire

The prequels have a completely different tone.

Song of Ice and Fireresemblance to Lord of the Rings obvious, as were their differences: Martin was hugely influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien in creating his own epic fantasy saga, but also wanted to avoid falling into the traps that many other post-Lord of the Rings the novels were, for example, simply too derivative of Tolkien’s work. And so, if ASOIAF this is his version Lord of the Ringssimilar in scale, but subverting typical fantasy tropes and expectationsthen Tales of Dank and the Egg short stories are his Hobbit.

Like Hobbit, they take place several decades before the “main” story and contain many elements that readers will recognize, but also have unique characters and locations. But most of all, Tales of Dank and the Egg such as Hobbitmuch shorter, easier to read than the enormous volumes with which they are associated. There’s more humor in the books, the struggle is much more personal in scope than the war to rule the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and the tone, while it has its dark and brutal edge, is pretty darn light.

The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms plan made me worry about repeating the problems from the Hobbit films.

Is HBO going to turn this story into something too epic?

I love Tales of Dank and the Egg novellas, and I’m glad to see them being adapted for the screen because they are very entertaining stories, filled with great characters, fun adventures, and a lot of exciting world-building and lore (like how they’re based on the Blackfyre Rebellion, which happened around 13 years before the release of the first book). But I was also worried because reading stories is not exactly offer a long-running multi-episode TV show, for example Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon.

It was some relief to hear Knight of the Seven Kingdoms the first season will only have six episodesbut even this did not assuage my fears that everything was too forced. There are only three books, and they are all very short. Hedge Knight has 160 pages; The audiobook lasts just under three hours (!), but according to HBO’s plan, this figure could be six hours.

I have seen, quite disastrously, how this can backfire on Hobbit myself. Instead of one fun fantasy prequel movie to Lord of the Ringsthey were made into three films totaling nearly eight hours for unextended releases. Sure, they made a lot of money (nearly $3 billion at the box office over three films 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 were lost.in favor of trying to recreate the grandiose epic scope and scale Lord of the Rings.

Certainly, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms it’s a TV show and the situations aren’t the same, but with three novellas totaling about 10 hours on audiobook turning into three seasons that could be triple that long, it’s enough to bother me. Similarly, HBO was a huge success with Game of Thrones And House of the Dragon which, despite all their differences, are huge shows that present a grand spectacle. Wouldn’t they want to continue this in the next spin-off?

Budget Knight of the Seven Kingdoms avoids Hobbit problem

GRRM is also pleased with what he saw in the Game of Thrones spin-off

Fortunately, some of my anxiety was alleviated by none other than the author of the books himself. Martin discussed Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ budget in a blog post saying that it “many less” (his emphasis). That’s good to hear because while they’re still committed to making the show look great, it means… they don’t just try to make it look like Game of Thrones. Unlike Hobbit trilogy, the budget of which was more than double Lord of the Rings movies, and that’s definitely a positive sign.

I’m still not 100% sure how the story expansion will work, and what they’ll add or deepen to accommodate what I’m guessing are six hour-long episodes. But the fact that they are committed to maintaining the tone and spirit of the book is a fantastic move and should ensure that we get a true adaptation. In addition, Martin himself highly praises Knight of the Seven Kingdoms bye, he said “loved” a rough draft of the first episode that was shown to him. And if it’s good enough for him, then hopefully it should be good enough for everyone else.