A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: a dead end (review)

Game of Thrones takes a side step by daring medieval comedy from a human perspective. The result is above all boring.

A scat scene opens the new epic in the 7 Kingdoms. Barely seconds after solemnly burying his master under a tree, Duncan begins to defecate behind said tree. Jets of poo squirt from his behind, abruptly cutting off the great Game of Thrones music that had just started. No, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will not be a GOT series like the others. She won’t be bombastic. She won’t be flamboyant. She won’t be heroic. It won’t be much, in fact…

After satisfying this natural need in front of the camera, Dunk heads to Ashford Meadow to participate in a big knights’ tournament. On his way, he meets a stable boy who introduces himself under the name Egg… an appropriate nickname since he is bald. Eager to go on an adventure, Egg becomes his squire and accompanies Duncan in his quest for glory.

This little story within a big one takes place a century before the events of the original series (just after Dance of Dragons). If the Targaryens still reign over Westeros, the dynasty originating from ancient Valyria is going through a period of dragon shortage, which will only end with the arrival of Daenerys. All this far exceeds the level of understanding – or interest – of Dunk, a massive and somewhat stupid young man, rescued from the streets and raised by Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb). Still drunk but basically good, Arlan dubbed Dunk before he died. Having become Ser Duncan the Great, he thus embarks on the life of a knight-errant – in other words broke and despised, far from the hero in the service of a noble cause.

No dragons here. Ira Parker, showrunner, and George RR Martin, directly involved in production and writing, attempt to expand the universe of Westeros by daring to take a step aside, based on the collection of short stories The Adventures of Dunk and the Egg (published in 1998). A less spectacular but more human spin-off, which works essentially thanks to the lovely complicity displayed by the gigantic Peter Claffey and his impressive young sidekick Dexter Sol Ansell.

A humorous variation too, which attempts to make gags (i.e. scat) and play on the stupidity of its clumsy hero. Humor being the least shared thing in the world, we will find it funny… or not. What does it matter, if the rest of the plot had enough to keep us awake. Except that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms never seems to have anything to say. Six short 30-minute episodes aren’t much… but the sitcom is short as we wait again and again for the tournament to begin, for Duncan to take action, for the series to finally thicken with issues.

We clearly understood that the idea was to offer a charming, intimate micro-epic intended to open the perspectives of the public – always thirsty for dragons – on Westeros. But everything is too small. Too soft. Like a stopgap without much ambition. Of course, it’s still beautifully produced and a few – rare – sequences are decidedly exciting (the jousting scenes are very cool). But this entire short first season ultimately feels like a prologue whose real purpose would be to make fans wait between two chapters of House of the Dragon. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long: season 3 of the much more exciting prequel will be released this summer on HBO Max.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, season 1 in 6 episodes, to watch from January 19 in France on HBO Max, one episode per week.