Westeros

Entertainment Weekly has the first exclusive interview with Knight of the Seven Kingdoms show-runner Ira Parker, ahead of the first public preview of the show at New York Comic Con this coming Thursday during the panel, “HBO / HBO Max presents A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – Journey into Westeros with Dunk and Egg”.

In the interview, a few interesting points come up. Front and center is the fact that for thematic reasons, this show will not open with the expansive opening title of its predecessors, but a simple title card before launching right into the story. Parker states to EW:

“All decisions came down to Dunk, trying to channel the type of person he is into every aspect of this show, even the title sequence… The title sequences on the original [Game of Thrones] and House of Dragon are big and epic and incredible. Ramin Djawadi’s score is orchestral and large and beautiful. That’s not really Dunk’s M.O. He’s plain and he’s simple and he’s to-the-point. He doesn’t have a lot of flash to him.”

Parker then goes on to note that he promised George R.R. Martin that, per EW, “he would never shift to a perspective of anyone in the upper class. Viewers will always stick with Dunk, Egg, and this lower rim of Westeros society: the armorers, the performers, the barmaids, the whores, and the like.”

And then he says some rather interesting things about the state of House Targaryen at the time of the tourney at Ashford. More on that below, plus how to watch the panel livestreamed courtesy of Popverse!

George R.R. Martin with star Peter Claffey and show runner Ira Parker (right).

Parker goes on to remark on the fact that he last dragon died some 50 years earlier, it was a twisted creature that couldn’t fly, and that this has changed the relationship of the realm to the Targaryens. EW notes that “based on their welcoming by the crowd, the Targaryen name has clearly lost a lot of its luster in the eyes of the small folk.” That’s a decided shift from “The Hedge Knight”, to say the least. Parker goes on to explain the reason:

They find themselves finally without the thing that put them in power, which is such a precarious position to be in,” he says. “Fifty years on from the dragons, people are starting to ask the question, ‘Well, why are we still letting them be in power?

He even suggests that that’s why the Targaryen’s show up at this small seat’s tourney, to show that they still rule. Of course, in the original story, despite the fact that the Ashfords aren’t all that notable a family, this tourney has drawn many great names: the lords Lannister, Tyrell, and Tully, the heir to Storm’s End, and many more. But of course, there’s an important thing to note about “The Hedge Knight”, namely that when it was originally written GRRM had not yet conceived of the Blackfyre Rebellion. This element of the story was only developed by him while working on A Storm of Swords, and would become front in center in the two following novellas, “The Sworn Sword” and “The Mystery Knight”, accordingly. Parker’s approach here seems to be attempting to retrofit the history of Daemon Blackfyre’s rebellion into the narrative, creating new reasons for why the Targaryens might feel they needed to show themselves. It’s possible—perhaps even very probable—that the show will hint at this background history (or even be quite explicit about it) as a way to intrigue viewers who are unfamiliar with the history of the setting.

In any case, we expect we’ll learn a great deal more this Thursday at 12PM Eastern when GRRM, Parker, and Peter Claffey take the Empire Stage at NYCC to talk about the show with fans. As noted, Popverse will be live-streaming and has shared the full livestreaming schedule.