George R.R. Martin Approved Every Change In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

As an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's "Tales of Dunk and Egg" stories, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" differs from other "Game of Thrones" shows in one big way. Since it keeps its focus pretty tightly on hedge knight Dunk (Peter Claffey) and diminutive squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), the scale of its stories is by default smaller and more intimate than the parent show or "House of the Dragon." Perhaps even more distinctively, the show's promotional material has teased a more comedic approach.

Still, increased levity doesn't mean that Martin and "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" showrunner Ira Parker haven't been taking utmost care to provide the best possible viewing experience. In a recent press event, /Film's Jeremy Mathai asked Parker whether fan responses were kept in mind when making changes to the source material. Parker revealed that not only have they taken pains to keep the story close to the one Martin told, but Martin himself knows about and approved every change that was made:  

"I wanted to make sure that [Martin] was happy and saw this properly represented. And because we agreed on what it was and who these characters were and what this story was, it was easy. We weren't fighting about these things. I told him quite early on that I wouldn't put anything in the show that he did not want in the show. And it never came to that. It never came to him telling me, 'Don't do this. Don't make this change. Don't make this addition.' It just, everything was a conversation upfront."

The leap from page to screen is never straightforward, and "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" will face the same problem "Game of Thrones" did when it comes to production — after all, there's a finite number of "Tales of Dunk and Egg" novellas, and Martin is famously very behind on his Westeros-adjacent writing. In terms of author involvement, another issue with these adaptations has been that Martin was left out of the loop during the later seasons of "Game of Thrones," and continues to have very particular feelings about the infamous "Game of Thrones" season 8. 

Knowing this, it's an encouraging sign that Martin and Ira Parker have been communicating in order to bring "A Knight of Seven Kingdoms" to life. In fact, Ira Parker said that regardless of what happens with the show, his talks with Martin have been nothing short of excellent: 

"And there's no better person to have a conversation about Westeros with than George R. R. Martin. It's fun. We riff off of each other, and he's only been a benefit to this show, so hopefully, people will ... Look, is everyone going to love this show? No. But hopefully, everyone will appreciate that at least we put forth an honest effort. We really did try. We are imperfect in our end result, but so is Dunk."

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" premieres on HBO on January 18, 2026.