Good news for “Game of Thrones” fans – and even better news for hardcore A Song of Ice and Fire fans: Another TV adaptation could be on the way!
It has just been reported that HBO is in the early development stages for George R.R. Martin’s “Tales of Dunk and Egg” novella series, a fan favorite since the first in the currently 3-part series, The Hedge Knight, was released back in 1998. The series takes place about 90 years before the events of “Game of Thrones” and follows the adventures of a roaming knight named Duncan the Tall (aka “Dunk”) and his young squire Egg, who is really future king of Westeros Aegon V Targaryen in disguise. The books are much beloved by ASOIAF book fans primarily because they are much more lighthearted than the often grim and violent main book series.
Book fans familiar with the larger expanded universe of ASOIAF already know much about Dunk’s life story and ultimate fate – I won’t spoil it for the Unsullied out there, but Dunk’s ending coincides with Rhaegar Targaryen’s (Danaerys Stormborn’s brother and Jon Snow’s father) beginning… So yeah, he’s kind of a big deal in the broader story.
The 3 existing novellas in the series (The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight -- collectively known as A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms) are/were not meant to be the end of D&E’s adventures, as GRRM has stated he has much more in store for the twosome, including a planned fourth book, The She-Wolves of Winterfell, which he previously stated he would release after The Winds of Winter, the 6th book of ASOIAF. However, he also recently stated that he did NOT want to make the D&E stories available for adaptation until after they were complete (understandable considering how GoT turned out), so it’s rather puzzling to see this sudden change of heart. Did they just make him an offer he couldn't refuse? Or does this perhaps mean that he has given up any hopes he may have once had of finishing this series? A somber thought to be sure… The author himself has yet to comment.
At any rate, the series is still only in development, which means it might never see the light of day (like the “Blood Moon” prequel series starring Naomi Watts taking place in the ancient North, which only filmed a pilot and then was scrapped in 2019). But, if picked up, it would join the other prequel series currently in production at HBO, “House of the Dragon”, which covers the bloody Dance of the Dragons civil war that occurred about 170 years prior to the start of GoT. For my money. I would take a Dunk & Egg series over more Targ foolishness any day of the week!
Stay tuned…