HBO dropped the first trailer for the Dunk and Egg show at New York Comic-Con, and yes, it’s the small-sized Westeros road trip the franchise needed. The third TV entry in George R. R. Martin’s universe arrives in 2026, shorter, scrappier, and set in the century-before era where dragons are memory, not air support. According to Martin, “I still look at The Hedge Knight as one of the best things I’ve ever done… What you see is going to be very similar to what I wrote.”
What the show is adapting
Season 1 adapts The Hedge Knight, the first of Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas (The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight are the other two). Think wandering knight, secret-identity squire, and a story scaled to bruised egos and splintered lances instead of palace coups. HBO’s official framing backs that up: a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg, roaming Westeros while the Targaryens still hold the Iron Throne and the last dragon hasn’t fully faded from living memory.
Episode count and runtime
Six episodes. Roughly a half hour each. That makes this the shortest season in the franchise so far—less bloat, more bruises. Premiere’s locked for January 18, 2026 on HBO and streaming on Max, with new episodes rolling out Sundays.
When it takes place
Timeline-wise, this sits about 100 years before Game of Thrones and after House of the Dragon—squarely between them in Westerosi history. Showrunner Ira Parker calls it a moment when the Targaryens have no dragons and the family aura is slipping, which is why a royal presence at a backwater tourney like Ashford suddenly matters. Expect grounded POV and fewer throneside riddles, more dusty roads.
The plot bones
There’s a big tournament at Ashford Meadow. Dunk rides in to make a name; Egg tags along, bald head and all. Martin told the NYCC crowd he wanted a story “entirely set during a tournament,” then tossed Parker the gauntlet: “Let’s do the best jousting sequences that have ever been put on film.” Parker accepted—and added a flex: “a jousting tournament at night.” So: tilt yard by moonlight, steel on lantern-lit steel.
The trailer beats
The first trailer opens with Dunk’s vow to be a “good knight” defending “the weak and the innocent,” then swerves into banter—someone barks at him to “move the f–k out of the way” because he’s not Baelor Targaryen. Dunk bristles when Egg says he’s never heard of him; Egg, unbothered, replies he does know “all of the good ones.” There’s the squire offer, a bark-like-a-dog bit, and a closing mantra from Lyonel Baratheon: “In every man, there are many men, so be brave, be just, be tall.” It sells scrappy charm with just enough menace.
Your Knights and Eggs
- Peter Claffey leads as Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall, a common hedge knight with zero blue blood. He called stepping into Westeros “a massive role and a massive world,” made less terrifying by a strong script and Martin’s books.
- Dexter Sol Ansell plays Prince Aegon “Egg” Targaryen. He was nine when production kicked off and, yes, he shaved his head—and celebrated with scrambled eggs.
Their off-screen bonding regimen? Hours of Mario Kart at a nearby arcade. On-set reality? Northern Ireland builds of Ashford so real the wasps unionized—fake blood sugar apparently turned the place into a buzzing hazard. “I think half the budget went to CGI-ing the wasps off my face!” Claffey joked.
The supporting roster
Daniel Ings (Ser Lyonel Baratheon), Bertie Carvel (Baelor Targaryen), Danny Webb (Ser Arlan of Pennytree), Sam Spruell (Maekar Targaryen), Shaun Thomas (Raymun Fossoway), Finn Bennett (Aerion Targaryen), Edward Ashley (Ser Steffon Fossoway), Tanzyn Crawford (Tanselle), Henry Ashton (Daeron Targaryen), Youssef Kerkour (Steely Pate), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Plummer), and Daniel Monks (Ser Manfred Dondarrion). Consider this your tourney seating chart.
Vibe check
Parker says these novellas are “lovely and sweet” with hope—and still brutal when Westeros remembers who it is. The show keeps perspective tight on a kid from the slums of King’s Landing trying to make it, which should give Seven Kingdoms a “grounded, gritty feel” that’s very not-King’s-Landing-courtroom. No dragons. Fewer sigil-power politics. More mud, dents, and choices that hurt.
Who’s steering this thing
Created by Ira Parker and George R. R. Martin. Parker writes or co-writes all six episodes with Aziza Barnes, Hiram Martinez, Annie Julia Wyman, and Ti Mikkel. Directors: Owen Harris and Sarah Adina Smith. Executive producers include Martin, Parker, Vince Gerardis, Harris, Sarah Bradshaw, and House of the Dragon’s Ryan Condal.
Episode-by-episode teases
At NYCC, Dexter Sol Ansell shouted out Episode 3; Peter Claffey favored Episode 4. Martin teased Episode 5 as “the big action episode,” and praised Episode 6 for its “emotional resonance” and how it sets up future stories—he even likened it to an epilogue in the vein of “The Scouring of the Shire” (which, he dryly noted, never made the LotR films). Translation: expect a twist before the finale and a feelings-heavy last lap.
Release details
Mark it: January 18, 2026. Six half-hour chapters, Sundays on HBO and streaming on Max. The trailer bowed at NYCC; the tone plays lighter than HotD but keeps the franchise’s edge.
Why this one matters
This is Westeros without the nuclear option. No dragon deus ex machina. Just a too-tall knight trying to be decent and a bald prince learning when not to mention he’s royalty. Smaller canvas, sharper strokes—plus, per Parker, a night-joust you haven’t seen before. If Thrones was great houses and Dragon was dynastic rot, Seven Kingdoms is steel, splinters, and the stubbornness to stand tall.
game of thrones, a knight of the seven kingdoms, dunk and egg, hbo, george rr martin, ira parker, peter claffey, dexter sol ansell, ashford tournament, hbo max
