George R.R. Martin’s ‘Tales Of Dunk And Egg’ Is Getting A TV Treatment After All
by Erik Amaya
A few years back, HBO had an informal competition to determine which Game of Thrones prequel idea would sit the production throne. In the end, none of them won — the throne would go to a surprise contender, House of the Dragon — but at the time, fans of author George R.R. Martin‘s work wondered if one of the series concepts might center around the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. Though the concept was not part of the competition, it appears the stories will get an HBO treatment in the end.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network is developing a series based on the novellas, which charts the journey of hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall, aka Dunk, and his squire, Egg — who will grow up to be King Aegon V Targaryen — some 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones. It is unclear who is developing the series or if it was part of the plan all along.
Despite Game of Thrones‘s finale completely cratering the program’s role in the cultural zeitgeist, HBO firmly believes people still want to visit Westeros. Indeed, House of the Dragon, set three hundred years before Thrones, appears to have gone forward where the other concepts did not because it would be a Westeros recognizable to GoT fans. Another prequel concept, informally known as The Long Night, was set thousands of years earlier and went as far as a pilot before HBO pulled the plug. A show set 90 years before GoT will no doubt offer more familiarity, but do people want to be reminded of that series at this point?
Time will tell and, presumably, House of the Dragon will be the bellwether on a long-term future for anything Westerosi. That series is expected to debut next year.
