A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms season 1: release date, trailer, cast, plot, and what else we know about the new HBO Max show

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (AKotSK) will be the next Game of Thrones (GoT) property to be adapted by HBO. And, with the TV prequel's release date almost upon us – it'll be out on January 18 in the US – there's no time like the present to get the lowdown on it.

In this guide, I've rounded up the most important information on the HBO Max TV Original's debut season. That includes its confirmed cast, story specifics, trailers, and more on its recently announced second season. Here, then, is all you need to know about AKotSK before season 1 is released.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms release date

One of 30 exciting new shows we highlighted in our 2026 TV round-up, AKotSK season 1 will premiere on January 18. Well, in North and South America – it'll be out a day later everywhere else.

Confirmation of the series' official launch date came just days after it was revealed A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would arrive this January, so we already knew it would air after New Year's Day.

A six-parter, season 1 will air with a single episode on launch day. New entries will then drop weekly until the finale. Lastly, it'll be released on HBO and HBO Max where applicable, and other services where neither platform is available, such as Sky/Now TV in the UK and Neon in New Zealand.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms trailer

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms | Official Teaser Trailer | HBO Max - YouTube

Watch On

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' first trailer was released in October 2025. It teased more intimate action and drama, suggested it'll be a more jovial Westeros-based story than Thrones or House of the Dragon (HotD), and gave us our first proper look at its misfit protagonists.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms | Official Final Trailer | HBO Max - YouTube

Watch On

That isn't the only footage we've been treated to. HBO released season 1's official trailer (see above) in December 2025 before an HBO Max 2026 preview trailer showed off more of AKotSK's debut later that same month.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms confirmed cast

Here's the confirmed cast for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1:

• Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan 'Dunk' the Tall
• Dexter Sol Ansell as 'Egg'
• Daniel Ings as Ser Lyonel Baratheon
• Bertie Carvel as Prince Baelor 'Breakspear' Targaryen
• Finn Bennett as Prince Aerion 'Brightflame' Targaryen
• Sam Spruell as Prince Maekar Targaryen
• Henry Ashton as Daeron 'The Drunken' Targaryen
• Danny Webb as Ser Arlan of Pennytree
• Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway
• Edward Ashley as Ser Steffon Fossoway
• Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle
• Youssef Kerkour as Steely Pate
• Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Plummer
• Daniel Monks as Ser Manfred Dondarrion
• Steve Wall as Lord Leo 'Longthorn' Tyrell
• Ross Anderson as Ser Humfrey Hardyng

For those who haven't read George R.R. Martin's 'Dunk and Egg' book trilogy, Claffey and Ansell will portray its main characters – those being, Ser Duncan 'Dunk' the Tall and 'Egg'.

The rest of the cast includes the names of Houses that'll be familiar to GoT and HotD devotees, such as the Targaryens (they're still in power at this point in time, FYI) and the Baratheons, and characters whos identities will only be known to those who've read Martin's aforementioned works. No spoilers for how they all fit into and impact the story moving forward. Speaking of the plot, though...

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms story synopsis

Potential spoilers follow for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 and 'The Hedge Knight', aka the book it's based on.

Here's AKotSK's official story brief: "A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire Egg.

"Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends."

As its plot synopsis reveals, AKotSK is set 90 years before GoT. At this point on the timeline, Westeros is a far cry from the dragon-rich world it was before and during the Targaryen Civil War. AKotSK won't be so magic-focused or politically-charged as Thrones, either, nor will it be as concerned with the various Houses that populate Martin's high fantasy world; its story instead choosing to spotlight the commonfolk who exist in GoT's universe.

"This could basically be 14th century Britain," showrunner Ira Parker told Entertainment Weekly (EW). "This is hard nose, grind it out, gritty, medieval knights, cold with a really light, hopeful touch. It's a wonderful place to be.

"We're ground up in this series [and] starting right at the bottom," Parker continued. "We're not with the lords and ladies [or] the kings and queens. To find a totally different version of this world that everybody seems to know so well was very, very appealing. The fact that we live in this world, though, where magic once existed, is very interesting to me. This is the ground and the grass that has seen dragons and dragon fire before. So everything is just like how the world is, but a little stranger, a little different."

As for the story it'll tell, season 1 will adapt 'The Hedge Knight', the first installment of the 'Dunk and Egg' book trilogy that was released in 1998. Its title is a reference to wandering warriors who make a living by lending their services – for a price, of course – to those in need.

In it, 'Dunk' sets out to compete in the Ashford Meadow tourney in a bid to follow in his late master Ser Arlan's footsteps and earn some coin. Along the way, Dunk acquires his own squire in 'Egg', which sets events in motion that eventually cast a ripple effect across the world.

Given the show's focus on characters who (mostly) aren't born into families of high status, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will also forego another thing we've seen in other HBO adaptations of Martin's work. That being, it won't have an epic, animated titles sequence with a sweeping score from composer Ramin Djawadi.

"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," Parker revealed to EW. "The title sequences on the original [GoT] and House of the Dragon are big, epic, and incredible. Ramin’s score is orchestral, large, and beautiful [but] that's not really Dunk’s M.O. He’s plain, he’s simple, and he’s to-the-point. He doesn't have a lot of flash to him."

That's not to say we won't meet anyone born into a noble family. Indeed, the dragon-less Targaryens still sit on the Iron Throne. AKotSK, then, will still feel the lingering impact of the Targaryen Civil War and potentially start to sow the seeds for events to come in GoT.

"They [the Targaryens] find themselves finally without the thing that put them in power, which is such a precarious position to be in," Parker remarked via EW. "Fifty years on from the dragons, people are starting to ask the question, ‘Well, why are we still letting them be in power?'

"They normally maybe wouldn’t have even bothered with this backwater little town in the middle of the Reach. But, they do because they have to be seen as still in charge."

Will there be a season 2 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?

Yes! In November 2025, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 was among numerous TV shows that had new installments greenlit by HBO.

There's no official word on its plot yet, but it's all-but-confirmed that season 2 will adapt 'The Sworn Sword,' aka the second novel in the 'Dunk and Egg' book series. As for when it'll premiere, AKotSK's sophomore outing is currently penciled in for 2027, but much depends on numerous production factors, including when filming will begin.

For more HBO Max TV-based coverage, read our guides on Euphoria season 3, House of the Dragon season 3, Creature Commandos season 2, and The Last of Us season 3.