I'm finally watching this surprising fantasy hit on HBO, and I should have started way earlier
We love a good spinoff
When your write about streaming as much as I do, it's easy for people to assume that you spend all day, every day watching shows and movies to keep up with everything coming out. The reality is much less fun than that – just like everyone else, I have limited time outside of work in which to pick and choose the shows that most interest me, which means that plenty get missed.
Frankly, even when shows do pique my interest I'll still often wait a little while to watch them, to avoid interrupting another season that I'm in the middle of, for example. That's what happened to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the second spinoff show from Game of Thrones that came out earlier this year – I've only just got around to watching it, and I'm having a grand old time.
The show takes a look at Westeros through a very different lens, focussing on a single pair of characters rather than a sprawling cast in many different locations. It opens with Dunk, a giant young man, burying his master, a cantankerous hedge knight who he'd been squire to. He's now a knight in his own right, but with no reputation to speak of, so he sets off to a nearby tourney in the hopes of making a name for himself.
Along the way he picks up a tiny young lad, Egg, who says he wishes to be Dunk's squire. He has secrets of his own, and the show quickly starts to unfold them, but I've been really enjoying how differently paced the episodes are compared to Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon. They're generally shorter, and take a much gentler pace, to give you more time to sit with Dunk in particular as things unfold around him.
I'm halfway through the show's first season and I'm having a great time, even if things just took a turn for the worse for Dunk's own personal chances of success and survival. I'm hoping that the scope of the show doesn't widen out much from here, too – it's strength has been how limited its locations have been and how much time it takes to unfold a given day or night.
Don't get me wrong, I'm also excited for the return of House of the Dragon and its grander scope, especially as someone who doesn't know exactly how that story will unfold. Still, it's been a brilliant change of pace to sink into A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms ahead of the bigger show's return this month – I highly recommend it if you haven't dipped your toe yet.
