A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		5.0

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 17, 2026

If you were forced to describe either Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon in only one word, chances are at least a plausible choice for that singular word might be epic. While scale of both series certainly supports that term, the more literary meaning of a long narrative detailing the exploits of a hero or heroes (or indeed heroines) also is apt. Both Game of Thrones (especially) and House of the Dragon also feature huge, expansive casts and multiple families to keep track of, all within frequently pretty amazing (and often quite epically large) sets and other production design accoutrements. Which brings us to HBO's latest attempt to bring the venerable George R.R. Martin's, well, epics to television screens. In a rather surprising but ultimately bracing strategy, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a much more intimate story largely focusing on two characters, though there is of course an at least somewhat epic context here in terms of even more luxe production design aesthetics, even if this show is by design more concentrated on "everyday folk" rather than those scheming, nasty royal families. That said, the Targaryen clan is still very much a presence in this series, albeit somewhat in the background as the six episodes in this inaugural season chart the course of nascent knight Dunk (Peter Claffey) and his improbable squire, a bald little boy named Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), in a narrative that falls more or less halfway between the timeframe(s) of House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones.

Note: One potential spoiler can't really be avoided in the following description, so those fearful of such revelations are encouraged to skip down to the technical and supplemental sections, below. That said, one of the making of supplements included in this set explicitly details the wish of the producing team that this major plot development not be thought of as some kind of "big twist".

Dunk himself had been a longtime squire to Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), a so-called "hedge knight", a term which is at least somewhat equivalent with "Ronin", i.e., a wandering warrior without a master or a home (the "hedge" part of the term refers to where these people would typically find a bed for the night and/or knight). Arlan has just expired as the series begins, and Dunk finds himself in his former mentor's shoes, in more than one way. While certain elements are left undetailed (at least so far), Dunk apparently engages in a bit of subterfuge to suggest Arlan had knighted him before he passed, and so Dunk is now a new if hardly improved hedge knight himself. He sets out for a village called Ashford, where there's about to be a jousting tournament where Dunk can hopefully prove himself. One of the perhaps interesting subtexts here is that this narrative takes place in a time of relative peace, where what might be called "ritualized violence" has taken the place of actual war. Of course a number of obstacles intrude, but almost immediately upon arriving at the settlement, he meets the curious little boy named Egg, who seems to desperately want to become Dunk's squire, something that finally happens (after quite a bit of interstitial drama) by the end of the first episode.

Things go from bad to worse for Dunk at Ashford as he has an unfortunate run in with one of the nastier Targaryens, Prince Aerion (Finn Bennett), which seems to be leading to Dunk's imminent execution until Egg shows up and reveals that he is in fact Aegon Targaryen, Aerion's little brother. It turns out that probably unsurprisingly the sweet if often incredibly sassy little Egg isn't especially fond of his family, and had been attempting to run away when Dunk entered the village, simply assuming the hardscrabble little boy was a worker in the stables. This particular revelation leads to some probably unnecessary interstitial drama between Dunk, who feel betrayed (even if Egg saved him), and Egg, who desperately wants the friendship that his relationship with Dunk had seemed to initially offer.

All of this plays out within the larger context of what might be jokingly referred to as a "rigged" joust where Dunk has little to no chance of prevailing. Well, three guesses as to whom does prevail, and your first two don't count. That then finally sets the series on what appears to be its future course, with Dunk and Egg officially teamed to have their own adventures as knight and squire. This is a surprisingly sweet series when seen through the prism of the horrors that at least occasionally populate both of the other Martin series, and it's elevated by an especially appealing chemistry between the two focal stars. Little Dexter Sol Ansell is a real find and actually steals most of the scenes he's in. The series also has a decidedly cheeky (in more than one sense, given the prevalence of naked male butt shots) sense of humor, and there are a couple of brief vignettes that involve literal potty jokes, including some unfortunate lack of gastric control on the part of Dunk as well as a(n) hilariously gross moment of full frontal nudity as Arlan relieves himself and reveals he might have a rather impressive secret jousting lance of his own, so to speak. In fact, that brief memory involving Arlan is just one of several flashbacks that occasionally provide some context for Dunk's history in particular.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of HBO and Warner Brothers Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa Mini LF and a 4K DI as the relevant data points. This 1080 presentation typically fires (and ices?) on all cylinders, but I'd certainly recommend those with the appropriate equipment to opt for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season 4K, as just about all the positives I'm about to mention show improvements in that version. This first season has a somewhat drab look that can emphasizes browns and ochres, especially with regard to the "lower classes", but the palette is still rather impressively vibrant throughout. Some bright sunny outdoor material really provides warm and inviting yellows and greens in particular. Fine detail is just eye popping a lot of the time, especially on things like the roughhewn textures of fabrics of the less wealthy people in particular, though this is another area that definitely sees improvement in the 4K release of the series. As is discussed in some of the supplements, this series is at least relatively CGI free when compared to the other two Martin properties, and a lot of the special effects were achieved in camera. That gives things a nicely realistic ambience throughout.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season features a blistering Dolby Atmos track that delivers solid immersion (in more ways than one) with the very opening scene of Dunk burying Arlan during a torrential downpour. But the glut of outdoor material provides a wealth of opportunities for nicely layered ambient environmental effects, and those along with Dan Romer's really evocative score regularly populate the surround channels. One of the most amazing pieces of sound design for my money comes in the fifth episode, which has an absolutely horrifying sequence documenting Dunk's own perspective of the joust (like, from inside his helmet). It's an amazing example of directionality but also has some interesting muffled effects that make everything frighteningly claustrophobic. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional subtitles in several languages are offered.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Maybe a bit oddly, and certainly a bit repetitively, the supplements offer both Into the Episode breakdowns as well as A Knight in the Making featurettes, both of which are largely interchangeable and which in fact reuse some of the same footage and interview snippets.

Disc One

• Into the Episode

Episode 1 (HD; 5:05)




Episode 2 (HD; 5:07)




Episode 3 (HD; 5:19)


Note: There's a Play All option for the above.

• Building A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HD; 34:58) is a nice backstage look that addresses things like production design.

Disc Two

• Into the Episode

Episode 4 (HD; 6:04)




Episode 5 (HD; 6:09)




Episode 3 (HD; 6:21)


Note: There's a Play All option for the above.

• Welcome to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Extended) (HD; 4:15) is a quick EPK introduction that includes George R.R. Martin (as do several of the other supplements).


• Blooper Reel (HD; 1:39)


• A Knight in the Making - Episode 1 (HD; 16:57)


• A Knight in the Making - Episodes 2 and 3 (HD; 20:49)


• A Knight in the Making - Episodes 4, 5 and 6 (HD; 27:47)


• Character Pieces

Meet Dunk (HD; 1:28) features Peter Claffey.




Meet Egg (HD; 1:14) features Dexter Sol Ansell.


Note: There's a Play All option for the above.

• Ashford Meadow Set Tour with Dexter Sol Ansell (HD; 2:17) is a brief look at the village.

The sleeve offers an inner print with lists of episodes and supplements. A slipcover is also offered.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I unabashedly enjoyed the first season of this "spinoff" more than I did with regard to House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season, and I actually enjoyed at least the first season of that particular show quite a bit. For those heretofore afraid to dip their toe into the Martin universe(s), A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is probably a great way to start, and it really requires no foreknowledge of what has either gone before or is to come after. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements very enjoyable. Highly recommended.