February 4, 2025 • 35 mins
The episode explores the upcoming spin-off series "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," focusing on the adventures of Dunk and Egg amidst the backdrop of Westeros. Minwa and Tony discuss the show's character-driven narrative, humor, and potential impact while addressing fan concerns about the absence of large-scale battles and dragons.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Arthur Dayne.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The sword of the morning.
Had the attack on the KingswoodBrotherhood Defeated the
Smiling Knight in single combat,sir Duncan, the Tall Four pages
for Sir Duncan, he must havebeen quite a man.
So they say Hello everyone,welcome to Dancing with Dragons,
(00:36):
a podcast dedicated to Game ofThrones, house of the Dragon and
everything else in the world ofA Song of Ice and Fire, created
by George RR Martin.
My name is Minwa and, as always, I'm here with my co-host, tony
, for a pretty important episodeof our podcast.
As you know, we dive into Gameof Thrones, house of the Dragon
and, as always, I'm here with myco-host, tony, for a pretty
important episode of our podcast.
As you know, we dive into Gameof Thrones, house of the Dragon
and the rest of the Song of Iceand Fire universe on this
podcast, as I've mentioned.
But today's episode is going tobe an important one.
We're diving into the secondGame of Thrones spin-off series
(00:56):
that we'll soon be able to addto our intro A Knight of the
Seven Kingdoms.
In this episode, we're breakingdown everything you need to
know about the upcoming series.
We'll give you a generaloverview of what to expect, some
behind-the-scenes info and evena look at how this show came
together, the road to getting itgreenlit and onto our screens.
Essentially Now, the show isset to premiere this year.
We're not entirely sure, whenWe've heard reports that it
(01:17):
could be this summer or laterthis year it's not that clear as
of yet, but we want to recordand release this episode as soon
as possible anyways, firstlybecause we've been told by our
lovely listeners that theycannot wait for us to talk about
it, but also because we'rebound to be getting updates
about the show in the upcomingmonths and any day now,
including trailers for us tobreak down.
So we want to make sure that youguys have this episode as a
(01:37):
solid reference point to comeback to, with all the key
information you need to know.
That way, when we startbreaking down new updates or
diving into the show itself,you'll be ready to go.
I'm super excited for this.
Our listeners are excited.
I had people in person comingup to me and telling me that
they want this episode becausethey were excited about the next
spinoff of Game of Thrones.
I hope everyone listening is asexcited as I am.
But I've talked long enough soI'll pass the mic to Tony to
(02:00):
take us from here.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Tony, are you excited for this episode or excited for
the series?
I'm very excited for the series, excited that it was coming out
, like in june or maybe july,but now that I saw a report that
said late in 2025, like all theshows we have nowadays, we have
to wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
So the stark difference start.
(02:22):
Uh, I was you always pausethere when you say stark.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, I love saying that, I love saying that.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Is that this show is going to be more grounded?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
The series might focus more on personal journeys
of characters rather than thelarge scale political drama that
we see in GOT and HOTD, and thetone is a little bit lighter at
times and Dunk as a characterhas a certain kind of humor and
charm, which provides a contrastto the always darker tone that
(02:58):
we see in Westeros with thepolitical struggle that we
always get Like.
We don't get that many momentsof levity in Game of Thrones or
House of the Dragon.
That's why moments with Tyrionor Bronn or you know those
moments, they're so much funnierbecause we don't get it as much
.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I think that those moments like with Tyrion
Bronn you know thosetraditionally funny characters,
tormund too when we get them inthe show it is funny and
appreciated because they're sovery obviously moments of
lightheartedness in the show.
But I also think that sometimes, looking back as Game of
Thrones, you can really find thehumour in some awkward moments
(03:38):
with Cersei, with those momentswhen she just I don't know she
gets embarrassed or something.
I can't recall exactly eachmoment off the top of my head
but yeah, looking back, evenwith um cast the dragon, there
are some really funny momentsand you just need to find the
humor in them.
But with the knights of theseven kingdoms I think that's at
least I hope it's going to bemostly light-hearted, like we
(04:00):
will get some more like levityfor sure.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I I think the heart of the show lies in the bond
between Dunk and Egg, so itoffers the adventure, the humor
and the character growth.
I think people are going tolove the character of Sir Duncan
because he not only stands tallbut he is that rare character
(04:23):
or beacon of honor and humilityin this crazy, brutal world.
He stands out, he's kind oflike a Ned Stark and Embarrassed
and Somi.
They're so honorable and nomatter what people you can not
like about Ned, even his enemieswill say well, ned Stark was an
honorable man, no matter what.
(04:45):
And I think that despite hissize, he's what 6'7", 6'5",
whatever.
He's deeply grounded, he showskindness, fairness and he has a
strong moral compass.
In contrast to the otherknights that you'll see around
him, he believes in doing what'sright, even if it's
(05:06):
inconvenient, you know.
So he's kind of like a symbolof hope and integrity that you
don't see in this world.
Because he considers himself ahedge knight, right?
So hedge knights they go fromturning to they're just trying
to make money.
He's not bound to any house, sohe's not like part of House
Stark or whatever.
He's just going around.
That's his dream, though, Ithink his dream, and he's like
(05:31):
he wants to be a part ofsomething he wants to like.
He just wants to get in somehowsome entry-level job, that way
he could have a bed and he couldeat that.
That's how simple he is.
Like he and he although hedoesn't care about sleeping
outside like he's so humble.
And that's why I think I can'twait to see this on screen,
because you see this big, giantguy.
He's always trying to earn therespect of the world, no matter
(05:55):
what, and if done right, he willbe everybody's favorite.
Well, not everybody's favorite,but he'll be one of the best
characters we have in thisuniverse.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
I hope so.
I mean, everything that yousaid is entirely accurate about
Dunk, and you know you made avery good point about him
necessarily like, not being apart of any house, so he doesn't
treat, he's not loyal to anyone, but he has that, that honor
code within him and that, Ithink, is something that many
people will respect, or at leastI hope that they do, because
you know we were so charmed bythat when we first were
(06:28):
introduced to Ned Stark.
That's why everyone consideredhim the hero and wanted to see
him on the throne.
You know, I don't remember asingle person that was either
bored by Ned Stark or didn'tlike him.
And this is I mean for thefirst time watch us on rewatches
.
We can get along with himsometimes, but like, like, if
anything, you know you respecthim no matter what.
So I think that dunk willdefinitely be a version of that,
(06:49):
as you said, and you know it'sa novella, it's just like 100
pages and they're stretching itout to be like six episodes.
So I think that there's roomthere for them to, as you said,
make him one of the mostmemorable, beloved characters in
the universe.
In the universe, in theuniverse, I mean like, in the
the um, like westeros universe.
(07:09):
You know, like you includedthat clip of joffrey saying that
, like he has four pages andlike the book of the greatest
knights I'm sure that we'regonna see scenes of dunk writing
wrongs, if he sees it, yeah andeveryone loves to see that yeah
, I mean that's, that's an easyI won't say cheap way, but to
endear us to a character.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
We see somebody who's who is weaker or needs help.
You get a character to swoop in.
Oh, he's the hero.
You know that we like him.
Automatically they combine thethree novellas into one book.
So the first novella was whichI didn't know, you just told me
before the recording, and itkind of blew my mind because I,
I I bought the book in 2012 or2013 or something like that, so
(07:52):
I just assumed that it waswritten like all three were
written together.
But you told me that this firstpart, which is um has is called
the hedge knight, is, yeah,what we're gonna see in the
first season.
That was written in 1998.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
That's before he released clash of kings yeah, it
was between like book one andbook two of song of ice and fire
so he said let me write thislittle 100 page novella real
quick before I write my secondpart of my.
A song of ice and fire, yeahyeah, I mean, and then that
makes you wonder, like just howmuch he had like up in his brain
(08:30):
already, because on this firststory you get list of all of
like the different houses, likeso they're, you know, like just
like there's already.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You know we probably got more uh targaryen name drop
in the first hundred page ofthere than all of the first game
of thrones book.
Yeah, we got more uh targaryenname drop in the first hundred
page of there than all of thefirst game of thrones book yeah
we got more information on onthe past kings of the targaryen
dynasty, so that's kind ofthat's kind of funny.
I'm hoping that the hundredpages or the writers who are in
(09:00):
charge they could fill thoseepisodes.
And I don't know, I mean, wedon't know about the runtime.
It could be like 50 minutes orwhatever.
But even if they stretch it out, I would love to just see them
like walking and just chatting.
You know what I mean, like Idon't care about that, just it
doesn't have to be action allthe time.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
We could see people walk and chat and get into, you
know, whatever they get intoyeah, we need to go back to like
that slower pace of game ofthrones, season one, because,
like season one, two, three, youknow, like those, you know the
slower era because, um, likethat's when it was at its
greatest, you know when theytook their time to to tell a
(09:41):
story, to add things to a storythoughtfully, you know, not like
just out of nowhere and thingsthat don't make sense.
But I'm going to bear in mindsome more, because you were
surprised about the 1998 pointand that the story is that old
and you know that George had somany of his world benched in his
head already at that point.
But like it gets even moresurprising, I guess, and it's, I
(10:04):
guess, reassuring but alsomaybe not.
So he released the threestories.
The first one is called theHedge Knight.
That's going to be season one.
And then we have the Soren Sword, which is the second chapter
slash, the second story in thebook Released in 2003.
That's going to be season two.
And then we have the MysteryKnight, which is the third
chapter and the third story andgoing to be season three.
(10:26):
And then, as we know, it's justgoing to be those three seasons
, one season for each story.
I completely forgot to mentionthis, but george just released a
new blog post about this.
He he talked about tonight theseven kingdoms.
We said we're going to mentiongeorge in every episode and
check up on his blog post andgive updates on that, but we got
to get better assets andkeeping up with him.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, it was kind of funny because we had this idea
of doing this episode and it'slike he knows our podcast and he
goes.
Let me drop this info, maybe,so they can share it.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Oh God, that means I have to finish his books as soon
as possible.
I'm going to finish everythingby like March or something.
I'll pick up my pace, guys,Don't worry.
But anyways, let's go back toGeorge and his slow pace with
his own books as well.
It's not just me.
So in his blog he says abouttonight to the seven kingdoms
the series.
It's done.
Ira.
Ira Parker, one of theshowrunners, and his team
(11:25):
wrapped the first season monthsago and moved right on to
post-production.
I've seen all six episodes now,the last two in rough cuts,
admittedly and I loved them.
Duncan and Ike have always beenfavorites of mine, and the
actors we found to portray themare just incredible.
The rest of the cast areterrific as well.
Wait until you guys meet thelaughing storm in Tanzal Tuol.
(11:46):
A Knight of the Seven Kingdomsis an adaptation of the Hedge
Knight, the first of thenovellas I wrote about them.
It's as faithful an adaptationas a reasonable man could hope
for, and you all know howincredibly reasonable I am on
that particular subject.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That's no shade at all.
No shade at all to GOT and.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
HOTD no no, no.
He continues saying Viewers whoare looking for action and more
action and only action.
Well, this one may not satisfyyou.
There's a huge fight scene here, as exciting as anyone could
ask for, but there are nodragons this time around, no
huge bathers, no white walkers.
This is a character piece andits focus is on duty and honor,
(12:25):
on chivalry and all its means.
Thank you.
This one ranks as one of thebest stories I've ever written
(12:48):
and I am so, so, so pleased thatIra Parker, ty Mickle, Aziza
Barnes may they rest in peaceOwen Harris and our astonishing
cast and crew did right by them.
The series will make its debutlate this year.
I am now told how late.
I could not say.
Maybe in the fall.
I hope you will love this showas much as I do.
Love this show as much as I do.
Meanwhile, we'll be moving onto the Soren Sword, the second
(13:10):
tale of Duncan Egg, and once Ifinish the Winds of Winter, I
will need to get hopping on theVillage Hero and all the other
tales that await the lads.
Don't worry, I'm sure yourfocus will remind me.
And then he ends his blog post.
He does this with all his posts.
He ends it with how he'sfeeling, like feeling mood,
stuff like that, and he keepslike happy, nervous, and he ends
(13:32):
this with excitement so that'sfun.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
He's done this before .
When he talks about, uh, theshow, like he did it for game of
thrones, he did it for house ofthe dragon.
I feel with this show it's alittle different.
It feels like a proud papa.
I don't know.
I feel excited to see him.
That's excited.
I honestly think this is justhim being genuinely excited for
the show and I'm happy that heactually threw in that winds of
(13:55):
winter little tidbit there justfor us, because he has to.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, I'm just happy.
He's happy for now.
Yeah, um, I will say.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I will say before you go on there, that he does
mention, like we've mentionedbefore, um, when talking about
this show, it's going to rely,it's more grounded, it's going
to rely on the dynamic of thecharacters and the chemistry and
not that many battle scenes andyou know fighting scenes, uh.
But then he mentions somethingabout this fight sequence scene,
(14:27):
battle, and I wouldn't call ita battle.
Uh, it's something we've neverseen before, never heard of
before.
We heard of the concept beforeof like a trial by combat For
Duncan A they're going to havesomething called a trial by
seven, and that's all I'm goingto say and it's something we've
never, seen in any of the shows,so that would be something new
(14:49):
to look forward to.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
At the end of his blog post, George says once I
finish Winds of Winter, I willneed to get hopping on the
Village Hero.
So now you guys might be askingwhat is the Village Hero?
Well, it's the fifth Dunkin'Egg story.
And you might be wonderingfifth, Didn't we say that there
are just three?
Well, yeah, we did mention thatthere are three currently
published Dunkin' Egg novellasand that the show will be based
(15:11):
on each of the existing novellas.
But George actually intended forthere to be 12 Dunkin' Egg
novellas.
Yes, we intended to write those12 about Dunkin' Egg, covering
their entire lives, spanninglike 50 to 60 years, I think,
like their entire entire livesand like the last few books, I
think, or the last novella ortwo would even bridge the gap
between Duncan Egg's timelineand the Game of Thrones timeline
(15:32):
.
So you'll see a lot ofcharacters who are in Game of
Thrones supposedly will make anappearance at the end of the
Duncan Egg novellas, People likea young Tywin and a young
Olenna, those characters, theelderly ones has he worked on
them yet?
Well, for a while, what we hadknown was that the fourth and
fifth novellas are nearlycomplete and George has
(15:53):
significant detailed outlinesalready laid out for the
remaining novellas, but hepaused writing on them to focus
on finishing the main A Song ofIce and Fire series.
And now, as I mentioned in theblog post, George shared an
update for the first time in awhile.
He mentions that you need toget hopping on the Village Hero,
which is the fifth one.
So I'm assuming he hasn'twritten it yet, contrary to what
(16:14):
we had believed.
Maybe he only just wrote thefourth, we don't know for sure.
But let me give you a quickrundown on what we know in
novellas four and five, becausethe details are, because the
outlines that he has in placefor the rest of the series, for
the whole Duncan Egg story, isso, so specific that, like his
collaborators on some of theother Song of Ice and Fire books
, like the, the, you know theuniverse books like the, the
(16:36):
ones that you can get, that'slike give you more like info on
the world.
So people that's helped himwork on those books.
They were like very carefulabout what to include in those
books because they were going tospoil Duncan Egg for people.
So it's very detailed, likelaid out, it's not just in his
head, basically.
So novella four has a workingtitle at the moment, but it's an
(16:57):
incredibly cool working titlewith an incredibly cool story.
It's currently titled theShe-Wolves of Winterfell.
It was originally intended tobe published in an anthology
named Dangerous Women, but nowit's been postponed and we don't
know when these novellas arecoming out.
The novella is set inWinterfell, featuring Duncan the
Tall and his squire Egg as theymeet the She-Wolves, a group of
formidable Stark wives, widowsand mothers and grandmothers.
(17:18):
Four may be widows of previouslords of Winterfell and one, the
current, Lady Stark, whosehusband, Baron Stark, is dying
from a wound taken whilefighting.
Ironborn may be a house starksuccession crisis, a struggle
for power among the ladies onbehalf of their children.
We would love to see that thiswould be like a mini game of
thrones kind of an all-femalecast kind of, except for duncan
egg yeah um, like, instead ofhaving the token women in some,
(17:41):
as we have in some fictionseries, you know like the quotes
are just okay.
One woman in the background, Ithink duncan, and we'll just be
like okay, we'll just have twomen there, just for face holders
the main story will be amongthe women.
I think that that's so cool.
I really hope that that getspublished one day.
And then the fifth novella, theone that George said he'll hop
onto after the Winds of Winter,is titled the Village Hero, as
(18:04):
he mentioned, and all we knowabout it is that it's said to
take place in the Riverlands.
So okay, exciting stuff.
And it is that it's said totake place in the riverlands, so
okay, um, exciting stuff.
And I love duncan egg and Iknow george really does as well.
But can he hop onto a dream ofspring after winds of winter?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
because, like a song of ice and fire is waiting
george, I wish you lived to 110and maybe once you finish a
dream in spring you can hop onto the rest of the stories, and
I seem to see there's a themehere.
So the fourth novella is inWinterfell, the fifth one is in
Riverlands, so I'm just going toassume the sixth and they're
(18:39):
all going to be in differentlocations.
You know, because, duncan, theygo everywhere.
So that's kind of cool, likeevery season, even if we get to
like a season seven or seasonfive, we're like, okay, it's
kind of cool that every seasonis going to be in a different
location, not just king'slanding, not just winterfell you
know, you mentioned thelocation thing, how, like, each
(19:01):
season might be set in adifferent location and I think
that would be really cool, youknow, to allow us to see more of
the world of, of you know, of wWesteros on screen, Even though
you know they have theseincredibly detailed outlines and
the She-Wolf's idea is reallycool.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I hope they stick to their plan.
But, you know, considering wehave all of this left you know,
books four to 12 left it makesme worried about how they're
going to end the show.
I assume they're just going toend it with a flash forward,
which I hope again issatisfactory.
Because they're just going toend it with a flash forward,
which I hope again issatisfactory, because, like, how
are you going to wrap up thestory so neatly if it's supposed
to be 12 novellas and you'rejust doing three, makes me a bit
(19:36):
concerned as to how they'regoing to end the series.
But I trust them and if Georgeis happy, I'm happy.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, well, wait a minute.
I hope it's good, don't say Itrust.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
No, I trust George, sorry sorry.
I trust George, I trust George.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I think that Trust.
George, it depends on True,true.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Thank you for catching me saying that.
I trust George, I trust.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
George, I think it depends on the success of the
show.
If it's really popular, I'mpretty sure they'll be like okay
, george, we're on season twonow.
Season four will be in fouryears.
Can you help on that?
If it's a show that people kindof dig like, oh, we like it,
but it's not really popular, Ithink they'll be like we're done
(20:21):
with three.
We'll give you a little fiveminute montage of, or have like
a scene of them, and then yousee like Taiwan in the back or
them introducing them to taiwan,or you know some cheesy thing
like that.
If it's not successful, then Ithink you know.
And then that's what happenedwith the game of thrones.
It became so huge, it was likea global phenomenon and they got
(20:44):
nervous and they go oh we gotta, we can't let these people wait
.
We got to hurry up, which isfunny because even back then
they were doing every two years.
They weren't doing every year.
They could have said okay,everybody, we're going to take a
three-year break, but trust us,we're going to have 10 great
episodes.
You know what I mean?
I would have been fine withthat for season seven and eight
(21:07):
to have 10 episodes, if theymade us wait.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
And I think thatorge said it himself, where he said
it should have been 10 seasonsand everyone wanted it to be 10
seasons.
I think no one expected it tobe eight and no one expected
season seven and eight.
I don't know if six is, but Idon't think it it's counts.
I don't think it applies wherethey have less episodes.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You know like I think season six is ten, but no one
wanted it to be to end that sooncan you imagine a season, like
a half a season, if they had 10,11 seasons, and half of one of
those seasons would have beenexploring the what, where and
why or motivations of the whitewalkers?
(21:48):
Okay, why are they doing this?
Like why, you know what I mean,like you don't want to hear
them talk, but just kind of giveus a background of them and you
know.
Just don't be like, okay, we'reat your doorstep and then the
next day everything is done.
We have a couple of questionsthat I want to just ask them
right now.
First question is from CaseyElaine, underscore 13.
(22:08):
She asked do you think the showcan succeed without the big
spectacles, dragons and battles?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Personally, I'd say that I think that it could.
I think that people walked awayfrom season two of House of
Dragons, kind of needing a breakfrom all the dragon-ness.
You know, like when I talk tofriends or people like, oh, what
do you think, what do you wantto see about Game of Thrones,
like in the prequel, becausethey or people like, oh, what do
you think, what do you want tosee about game thrones, like in
(22:35):
the prequel, because they wereasking me like what's in the
works and stuff.
And then they were like, to behonest, like I don't think I
want to see any dragons for awhile.
Like I told them, oh, butyou're egg and the conqueror,
like that's a very cool story,I'd love to see it.
They were like, yeah, like, butI, I kind of need a break from
from all that now.
So the fact that more than oneperson told me like that that's
where they're at, I kind of feellike like duncan, and weirdly
is premiering at the right time,like, luckily enough for them,
that, um, people are feelingthis way that they've had enough
(22:55):
dragons and battles and stuffand people wanted, I think, a
silver paste from house thedragon season two.
It's time is going to help itsucceed and land well with
audiences.
That's my, my, my take on itlike one of the reasons why it
could succeed.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
It could succeed whereas otherwise it wouldn't
have I think, the show beingmore grounded, not focusing so
heavily on, like the lords, andmore of the small folk commoners
, the show will be morecharacter driven, we'll have
these fresh stories to tell andbut it will still have that game
of Thrones-esque vibe to it.
(23:30):
When I say the vibe is becausewe'll be encountering Baratheons
and Targaryens and Tullys andall those people, even though
we're not going to be seeingdragon battles or seeing dragons
at all.
I think it can work because theheart of the story is going to
be Dunk and Egg, their chemistryand how they deal with
(23:52):
situations that come out.
And I just want to saysomething about egg.
He's a great character becausehe's eight years old in the book
, but I think, uh, dexter solanzo, who plays the egg in the
show, he's 10 and I think umpeter claffey, is that his name?
Who's playing, sir Duncan?
Yeah, Peter Claffey, I'd sayhe's 28 years old but Dunk is
(24:18):
like 17 in the book, so that'skind of a big age jump there,
but to Egg he's going to be.
I don't know why he reminds meof Arya a bit sometimes, like he
, and I don't know why hereminds me of aria a bit
sometimes, like he, and I don'twant to explain why he reminds
me of aria.
It's hard, because for me toexplain that it'll give you the
(24:41):
spoilers but I'm just sayingyeah that he's gonna bring that.
That sass, he's, he's, he's asmart ass.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yeah, he's a know-it-all and it's gonna be
the Arya, sorry the.
Arya example is very accurate.
Like gave a very clear pictureof what they should expect, I'd
say, from Egg.
Because you don't want to sayanything more, I'm so scared to
say something.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think once you watch thefirst episode or when you're
introduced to Egg, that you'llknow right away what's going on
and you'll know where the show'sgonna go.
And it's funny because they,they, they casted this kid,
which I've never seen before.
He's the cutest little kid heis.
So if you see his um instagram,he is so excited to be playing
(25:26):
this role.
He shaved his head, head likefor real, and I think it said
that he previously played youngcoriolanus snow yes I was
reading.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
You saw me reading something I can see it's trying
to figure out like a choreo.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, don't worry that's the newest one, right
yeah okay, did you like that one, by the way?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
that's okay okay, it was okay.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
I I like the book and that's a prequel to the first
okay, all right the dynamic issomething that the writers have
to nail and we have to, like,fall in love with them within
that first episode or two, andthat's how I think, uh, this
show is going to work and once,if you feel that connection to
(26:16):
them, I think them being aslower pace show, it's going to
be okay.
Just going to safely assume thatit's going to be like towards
the finale yeah and once westart covering the episodes and
reviewing them, um, I'll try toremember this point right here,
but this is what I was talkingabout, yeah, I guess I'll say.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I'll say that's similar to how we saw the
dragons in A New Light.
This is something that we'lljust see in A New Light as well.
You won't imagine this.
You can't really come up withit on your own.
You'll be surprised.
You mentioned Peter Claffey,who plays Dunk.
He's a big guy, he's like 6'5",so he's a really tall guy.
(26:59):
One might have previously seenhim in bad sisters or vikings,
valhalla or the movie, smallthings like these.
I think it's really cool isthat they found someone that's
so perfectly dunk through, justlike a normal public um, like
casting call for hbo.
They just kept the descriptionsof the two lead characters and
immediately people knew thatduncan edgar was going to be
(27:20):
adapted for sure.
And for Dunk the descriptionthat they gave was this soldier
is very tall and physicallystrong, he has a humble
disposition and is perceptiveand thoughtful.
Any ethnicity and must be atleast 6'4".
So I like that they included.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
That must be at least 6'4" and he is a Irish actor
and he played rugby.
He was a professional rugbyplayer, so you know he's pretty
strong.
I have one more question justlet's knock that out really
quick from Anna Sylvester.
She says other than Duncan Egg.
What other characters are youexcited to see on screen?
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I think we share a similar answer because we talked
about it before we startedrecording.
But this is someone that'smentioned briefly by name in
Game of Thrones and if you lookback and try to scramble, you'll
probably figure out a Duncanconnection.
But anyways, the person isPrince Maekar Targaryen.
I think that's a reallyinteresting character and I
(28:17):
can't wait to see him.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I mean, we're talking about your.
Friends will talk to you likeso much targaryenness, but we're
still gonna have a heavy doseof targaryens in this show.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
It's not the same though.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well, dragon, let's say, we're gonna have some
princes here and we have, likeum, your, your makers, the big
one, but then you have, like theCrown Prince, baelor Brickspear
, then you have ArianneTargaryen.
The other character I'm reallylooking forward to is Ser Lino
Baratheon.
He is the heir to the ancestralseat of Storm's End.
(28:54):
He is known as the LaughingStorm and he's going to be
played by Daniel Ings.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
He's an English actor best known for psychoville
lovesick and he I remember himfrom the crown yeah, and another
character sorry that um, uhwasn't the crown is the actor
that plays um prince baylor.
You mentioned him, I think, umhis name is bertie carville.
He played um tony blair in thecrown.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yes, yes, anybody who T Carville.
He played Tony Blair in theCrown.
Yes, anybody who was cast inthe Crown knows how to act.
Another character I want to see, because I want to see the
dynamics between her and Dunk,is a character called Tanzel,
played by Tansin Crawford.
She's an Australian actor whocame out in the Servant.
(29:39):
She also came out in TinyBeautiful Things and Swift
Street.
So I mean there's a lot ofdifferent characters here.
They cast it really well andit's all about the writing and
hopefully it's strong writing tomake up for, you know, to
stretch out for six episodes.
I know that George is veryexcited.
He's like giddydy, almosttalking about this show and I'm
(30:04):
I'm hoping that uh, equals good,very good, for us I hope so.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I hope so.
But what I wanted to say isthat I think that george, uh,
like he obviously is veryexcited, but I think it's
because he just really, reallyloves duncan egg.
I'm pretty sure that he pitchedthe Dunk and Egg series to HBO
at the same time as House of theDragon.
He pitched two ideas to them in2016 and then they chose House
(30:31):
of the Dragon.
So then this was on pause for awhile.
This is just kind of the roadto development.
This is how it started.
But actually he was indiscussion with HBO for Dunk and
Egg or any prequel, I guess,back in 2013.
So not long after Game ofThrones premiered, they wanted a
spinoff and then he pitchedDuncan Egg and House of the
Dragon together.
They chose House of the Dragonand then obviously House of the
(30:54):
Dragon was also like a secondoption, because then they went
and ordered the pilots for thelong night.
So it was a long road of DuncanEgg being paused and Ryan
Condon was kind of involved aswell.
Um, he pitched it to georgealso, but then I think george
turned it down.
It's a bit of a like to me.
It was a bit of a confusingsituation.
What happened there, but thefirst time we heard that dunkin
egg could be adapted was in 2021.
(31:16):
So you know, discussions forthe prequel starts in 2013 and
then then it was officiallygreenlit in 2023.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
So that's like a decade of back and forth, of the
show being on pause, and nowit's finally here in 2025 I
think that it was a blessing, indisguise, that house of the
dragon premiered first, becauseI don't think, yeah, people
would have even watched dunkinegg after the no way after the
failure of season eight of gameof thrones people would have
been like we're not watchingthis.
(31:44):
They needed something big tocome back the big dragons and
you know what I'm saying likethey needed that big of show to
get people back on board.
To come back to westeros.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
So I have something actually kind of funny to say,
which is that you know, we gaveour listeners so far in this
podcast episode a very good, Ithink, idea of like the behind
the scenes stuff about the SevenKingdoms.
It's essentially all they needto know.
But what's actually kind offunny is that we haven't really
given them the actual premise ofthe show and the Hedge Knight,
(32:14):
set in an age where theTargaryen line still holds the
Iron Throne and the memory ofthe Last Dragon has not yet
passed from living memory, stillholds the Iron Throne and the
memory of the last dragon hasnot yet passed from living
memory.
Great destiny's powerful foesand dangerous exploits await all
these improbable andincomparable friends.
Dunk and Egg A century beforethe events of Game of Thrones.
They were Sir Duncan the Talland his squire Egg, and it is
set 89 years before thebeginning of Game of Thrones and
(32:36):
77 years after the secondseason finale of House of the
Dragon.
So it's like right betweenHouse of the Dragon and Game of
Thrones.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Before we head out.
I wanted to mention somethingthat I, a few weeks ago, I was
at a casino Okay, I know this isout of left field.
Anyway, I had like a $5 bill inmy pocket.
I found a nickel slot.
I start playing and within twominutes I'm already down to my
last credits.
I tap it, boom, and all of asudden I hit something and it's
(33:04):
just like like just going crazy,and now I have like 4,900
credits, which is 4,900 timesfive cents.
Let me just say that I was kindof not all there because I had
a few drinks and I'm thinkingwhat is this 44,900?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I couldn't compute what that was I go $4,900 times
$0.05.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
So I clicked the thing and when I got the receipt
it said $230.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
OK.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
My son is like OK, let's take that money, let's bet
it, let's go somewhere else.
I'm like no, I'm a winner here.
I bet five bucks and I got 230back.
That's it, I'm done.
So anyway, the point of thisstory is that I took that money
and bought a brand new surroundsound because I had a surround
sound for my TV Very old, thespeakers were going out, in and
(33:55):
out and I got it yesterday inthe mail from Amazon.
I hooked it up and the firstthing I did was put the first
disc of Season 3 of Game ofThrones to my Blu-ray and just
to see, like the sound andanyway, that just got me really
excited to say I really like,want to start Season 3 soon.
(34:15):
So I think what we're trying tosay is that what I'm trying to
say is that I think we're goingto do two to three more
standalone episodes and thenwe're going to start our
coverage and our revisit ofseason three of Game of Thrones
probably in March.
So that's, that's the officialword that we have here.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
That sounds good.
I can't wait to dive intoanother 17 games and go episode
by episode.
But I got to say I can't waitto get to game of thrones season
three as well.
I miss danny.
I miss seeing her on screen, soI can't wait until we just dive
into both of these shows gameof thrones, season three and
denies and deny to the sevenkingdoms.
I think it's also going to besuch a fun experience for us,
(34:53):
but also a treat for ourlisteners because we'll be
diving into both shows episodeby episode.
So that's like a lot of of funGame of Thrones content for them
as well and for us to make.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
What got me excited about covering season three is
that when you put on the Blu-ray, you get the music and you see
all they do a little previewbefore you press play or
anything and you see like allthe little events that happen.
Anyway, that's going to be allfor us.
Minwa and I want to thank youfor tuning into this episode.
(35:22):
Whether you're listening onSpotify, apple Podcasts or
iHeartRadio, we reallyappreciate if you could download
, save and leave us a rating.
It helps a lot To stay up todate with the podcast.
Be sure to follow us onInstagram at
dancingwith__dragons.
If you got an idea or topicyou'd like us to cover, dm us
there.
We'd love to hear from you.
So until next time, take careand peace out.
It's Arthur Dayne.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The sword of the morning.
Had the attack on the KingswoodBrotherhood Defeated the
Smiling Knight in single combat,sir Duncan, the Tall Four pages
for Sir Duncan, he must havebeen quite a man.
So they say Hello everyone,welcome to Dancing with Dragons,
(00:36):
a podcast dedicated to Game ofThrones, house of the Dragon and
everything else in the world ofA Song of Ice and Fire, created
by George RR Martin.
My name is Minwa and, as always, I'm here with my co-host, tony
, for a pretty important episodeof our podcast.
As you know, we dive into Gameof Thrones, house of the Dragon
and, as always, I'm here with myco-host, tony, for a pretty
important episode of our podcast.
As you know, we dive into Gameof Thrones, house of the Dragon
and the rest of the Song of Iceand Fire universe on this
podcast, as I've mentioned.
But today's episode is going tobe an important one.
We're diving into the secondGame of Thrones spin-off series
(00:56):
that we'll soon be able to addto our intro A Knight of the
Seven Kingdoms.
In this episode, we're breakingdown everything you need to
know about the upcoming series.
We'll give you a generaloverview of what to expect, some
behind-the-scenes info and evena look at how this show came
together, the road to getting itgreenlit and onto our screens.
Essentially Now, the show isset to premiere this year.
We're not entirely sure, whenWe've heard reports that it
(01:17):
could be this summer or laterthis year it's not that clear as
of yet, but we want to recordand release this episode as soon
as possible anyways, firstlybecause we've been told by our
lovely listeners that theycannot wait for us to talk about
it, but also because we'rebound to be getting updates
about the show in the upcomingmonths and any day now,
including trailers for us tobreak down.
So we want to make sure that youguys have this episode as a
(01:37):
solid reference point to comeback to, with all the key
information you need to know.
That way, when we startbreaking down new updates or
diving into the show itself,you'll be ready to go.
I'm super excited for this.
Our listeners are excited.
I had people in person comingup to me and telling me that
they want this episode becausethey were excited about the next
spinoff of Game of Thrones.
I hope everyone listening is asexcited as I am.
But I've talked long enough soI'll pass the mic to Tony to
(02:00):
take us from here.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Tony, are you excited for this episode or excited for
the series?
I'm very excited for the series, excited that it was coming out
, like in june or maybe july,but now that I saw a report that
said late in 2025, like all theshows we have nowadays, we have
to wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
So the stark difference start.
(02:22):
Uh, I was you always pausethere when you say stark.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, I love saying that, I love saying that.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Is that this show is going to be more grounded?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
The series might focus more on personal journeys
of characters rather than thelarge scale political drama that
we see in GOT and HOTD, and thetone is a little bit lighter at
times and Dunk as a characterhas a certain kind of humor and
charm, which provides a contrastto the always darker tone that
(02:58):
we see in Westeros with thepolitical struggle that we
always get Like.
We don't get that many momentsof levity in Game of Thrones or
House of the Dragon.
That's why moments with Tyrionor Bronn or you know those
moments, they're so much funnierbecause we don't get it as much
.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, I think that those moments like with Tyrion
Bronn you know thosetraditionally funny characters,
tormund too when we get them inthe show it is funny and
appreciated because they're sovery obviously moments of
lightheartedness in the show.
But I also think that sometimes, looking back as Game of
Thrones, you can really find thehumour in some awkward moments
(03:38):
with Cersei, with those momentswhen she just I don't know she
gets embarrassed or something.
I can't recall exactly eachmoment off the top of my head
but yeah, looking back, evenwith um cast the dragon, there
are some really funny momentsand you just need to find the
humor in them.
But with the knights of theseven kingdoms I think that's at
least I hope it's going to bemostly light-hearted, like we
(04:00):
will get some more like levityfor sure.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I I think the heart of the show lies in the bond
between Dunk and Egg, so itoffers the adventure, the humor
and the character growth.
I think people are going tolove the character of Sir Duncan
because he not only stands tallbut he is that rare character
(04:23):
or beacon of honor and humilityin this crazy, brutal world.
He stands out, he's kind oflike a Ned Stark and Embarrassed
and Somi.
They're so honorable and nomatter what people you can not
like about Ned, even his enemieswill say well, ned Stark was an
honorable man, no matter what.
(04:45):
And I think that despite hissize, he's what 6'7", 6'5",
whatever.
He's deeply grounded, he showskindness, fairness and he has a
strong moral compass.
In contrast to the otherknights that you'll see around
him, he believes in doing what'sright, even if it's
(05:06):
inconvenient, you know.
So he's kind of like a symbolof hope and integrity that you
don't see in this world.
Because he considers himself ahedge knight, right?
So hedge knights they go fromturning to they're just trying
to make money.
He's not bound to any house, sohe's not like part of House
Stark or whatever.
He's just going around.
That's his dream, though, Ithink his dream, and he's like
(05:31):
he wants to be a part ofsomething he wants to like.
He just wants to get in somehowsome entry-level job, that way
he could have a bed and he couldeat that.
That's how simple he is.
Like he and he although hedoesn't care about sleeping
outside like he's so humble.
And that's why I think I can'twait to see this on screen,
because you see this big, giantguy.
He's always trying to earn therespect of the world, no matter
(05:55):
what, and if done right, he willbe everybody's favorite.
Well, not everybody's favorite,but he'll be one of the best
characters we have in thisuniverse.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
I hope so.
I mean, everything that yousaid is entirely accurate about
Dunk, and you know you made avery good point about him
necessarily like, not being apart of any house, so he doesn't
treat, he's not loyal to anyone, but he has that, that honor
code within him and that, Ithink, is something that many
people will respect, or at leastI hope that they do, because
you know we were so charmed bythat when we first were
(06:28):
introduced to Ned Stark.
That's why everyone consideredhim the hero and wanted to see
him on the throne.
You know, I don't remember asingle person that was either
bored by Ned Stark or didn'tlike him.
And this is I mean for thefirst time watch us on rewatches
.
We can get along with himsometimes, but like, like, if
anything, you know you respecthim no matter what.
So I think that dunk willdefinitely be a version of that,
(06:49):
as you said, and you know it'sa novella, it's just like 100
pages and they're stretching itout to be like six episodes.
So I think that there's roomthere for them to, as you said,
make him one of the mostmemorable, beloved characters in
the universe.
In the universe, in theuniverse, I mean like, in the
the um, like westeros universe.
(07:09):
You know, like you includedthat clip of joffrey saying that
, like he has four pages andlike the book of the greatest
knights I'm sure that we'regonna see scenes of dunk writing
wrongs, if he sees it, yeah andeveryone loves to see that yeah
, I mean that's, that's an easyI won't say cheap way, but to
endear us to a character.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
We see somebody who's who is weaker or needs help.
You get a character to swoop in.
Oh, he's the hero.
You know that we like him.
Automatically they combine thethree novellas into one book.
So the first novella was whichI didn't know, you just told me
before the recording, and itkind of blew my mind because I,
I I bought the book in 2012 or2013 or something like that, so
(07:52):
I just assumed that it waswritten like all three were
written together.
But you told me that this firstpart, which is um has is called
the hedge knight, is, yeah,what we're gonna see in the
first season.
That was written in 1998.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
That's before he released clash of kings yeah, it
was between like book one andbook two of song of ice and fire
so he said let me write thislittle 100 page novella real
quick before I write my secondpart of my.
A song of ice and fire, yeahyeah, I mean, and then that
makes you wonder, like just howmuch he had like up in his brain
(08:30):
already, because on this firststory you get list of all of
like the different houses, likeso they're, you know, like just
like there's already.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You know we probably got more uh targaryen name drop
in the first hundred page ofthere than all of the first game
of thrones book.
Yeah, we got more uh targaryenname drop in the first hundred
page of there than all of thefirst game of thrones book yeah
we got more information on onthe past kings of the targaryen
dynasty, so that's kind ofthat's kind of funny.
I'm hoping that the hundredpages or the writers who are in
(09:00):
charge they could fill thoseepisodes.
And I don't know, I mean, wedon't know about the runtime.
It could be like 50 minutes orwhatever.
But even if they stretch it out, I would love to just see them
like walking and just chatting.
You know what I mean, like Idon't care about that, just it
doesn't have to be action allthe time.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
We could see people walk and chat and get into, you
know, whatever they get intoyeah, we need to go back to like
that slower pace of game ofthrones, season one, because,
like season one, two, three, youknow, like those, you know the
slower era because, um, likethat's when it was at its
greatest, you know when theytook their time to to tell a
(09:41):
story, to add things to a storythoughtfully, you know, not like
just out of nowhere and thingsthat don't make sense.
But I'm going to bear in mindsome more, because you were
surprised about the 1998 pointand that the story is that old
and you know that George had somany of his world benched in his
head already at that point.
But like it gets even moresurprising, I guess, and it's, I
(10:04):
guess, reassuring but alsomaybe not.
So he released the threestories.
The first one is called theHedge Knight.
That's going to be season one.
And then we have the Soren Sword, which is the second chapter
slash, the second story in thebook Released in 2003.
That's going to be season two.
And then we have the MysteryKnight, which is the third
chapter and the third story andgoing to be season three.
(10:26):
And then, as we know, it's justgoing to be those three seasons
, one season for each story.
I completely forgot to mentionthis, but george just released a
new blog post about this.
He he talked about tonight theseven kingdoms.
We said we're going to mentiongeorge in every episode and
check up on his blog post andgive updates on that, but we got
to get better assets andkeeping up with him.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, it was kind of funny because we had this idea
of doing this episode and it'slike he knows our podcast and he
goes.
Let me drop this info, maybe,so they can share it.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Oh God, that means I have to finish his books as soon
as possible.
I'm going to finish everythingby like March or something.
I'll pick up my pace, guys,Don't worry.
But anyways, let's go back toGeorge and his slow pace with
his own books as well.
It's not just me.
So in his blog he says abouttonight to the seven kingdoms
the series.
It's done.
Ira.
Ira Parker, one of theshowrunners, and his team
(11:25):
wrapped the first season monthsago and moved right on to
post-production.
I've seen all six episodes now,the last two in rough cuts,
admittedly and I loved them.
Duncan and Ike have always beenfavorites of mine, and the
actors we found to portray themare just incredible.
The rest of the cast areterrific as well.
Wait until you guys meet thelaughing storm in Tanzal Tuol.
(11:46):
A Knight of the Seven Kingdomsis an adaptation of the Hedge
Knight, the first of thenovellas I wrote about them.
It's as faithful an adaptationas a reasonable man could hope
for, and you all know howincredibly reasonable I am on
that particular subject.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That's no shade at all.
No shade at all to GOT and.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
HOTD no no, no.
He continues saying Viewers whoare looking for action and more
action and only action.
Well, this one may not satisfyyou.
There's a huge fight scene here, as exciting as anyone could
ask for, but there are nodragons this time around, no
huge bathers, no white walkers.
This is a character piece andits focus is on duty and honor,
(12:25):
on chivalry and all its means.
Thank you.
This one ranks as one of thebest stories I've ever written
(12:48):
and I am so, so, so pleased thatIra Parker, ty Mickle, Aziza
Barnes may they rest in peaceOwen Harris and our astonishing
cast and crew did right by them.
The series will make its debutlate this year.
I am now told how late.
I could not say.
Maybe in the fall.
I hope you will love this showas much as I do.
Love this show as much as I do.
Meanwhile, we'll be moving onto the Soren Sword, the second
(13:10):
tale of Duncan Egg, and once Ifinish the Winds of Winter, I
will need to get hopping on theVillage Hero and all the other
tales that await the lads.
Don't worry, I'm sure yourfocus will remind me.
And then he ends his blog post.
He does this with all his posts.
He ends it with how he'sfeeling, like feeling mood,
stuff like that, and he keepslike happy, nervous, and he ends
(13:32):
this with excitement so that'sfun.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
He's done this before .
When he talks about, uh, theshow, like he did it for game of
thrones, he did it for house ofthe dragon.
I feel with this show it's alittle different.
It feels like a proud papa.
I don't know.
I feel excited to see him.
That's excited.
I honestly think this is justhim being genuinely excited for
the show and I'm happy that heactually threw in that winds of
(13:55):
winter little tidbit there justfor us, because he has to.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, I'm just happy.
He's happy for now.
Yeah, um, I will say.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I will say before you go on there, that he does
mention, like we've mentionedbefore, um, when talking about
this show, it's going to rely,it's more grounded, it's going
to rely on the dynamic of thecharacters and the chemistry and
not that many battle scenes andyou know fighting scenes, uh.
But then he mentions somethingabout this fight sequence scene,
(14:27):
battle, and I wouldn't call ita battle.
Uh, it's something we've neverseen before, never heard of
before.
We heard of the concept beforeof like a trial by combat For
Duncan A they're going to havesomething called a trial by
seven, and that's all I'm goingto say and it's something we've
never, seen in any of the shows,so that would be something new
(14:49):
to look forward to.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
At the end of his blog post, George says once I
finish Winds of Winter, I willneed to get hopping on the
Village Hero.
So now you guys might be askingwhat is the Village Hero?
Well, it's the fifth Dunkin'Egg story.
And you might be wonderingfifth, Didn't we say that there
are just three?
Well, yeah, we did mention thatthere are three currently
published Dunkin' Egg novellasand that the show will be based
(15:11):
on each of the existing novellas.
But George actually intended forthere to be 12 Dunkin' Egg
novellas.
Yes, we intended to write those12 about Dunkin' Egg, covering
their entire lives, spanninglike 50 to 60 years, I think,
like their entire entire livesand like the last few books, I
think, or the last novella ortwo would even bridge the gap
between Duncan Egg's timelineand the Game of Thrones timeline
(15:32):
.
So you'll see a lot ofcharacters who are in Game of
Thrones supposedly will make anappearance at the end of the
Duncan Egg novellas, People likea young Tywin and a young
Olenna, those characters, theelderly ones has he worked on
them yet?
Well, for a while, what we hadknown was that the fourth and
fifth novellas are nearlycomplete and George has
(15:53):
significant detailed outlinesalready laid out for the
remaining novellas, but hepaused writing on them to focus
on finishing the main A Song ofIce and Fire series.
And now, as I mentioned in theblog post, George shared an
update for the first time in awhile.
He mentions that you need toget hopping on the Village Hero,
which is the fifth one.
So I'm assuming he hasn'twritten it yet, contrary to what
(16:14):
we had believed.
Maybe he only just wrote thefourth, we don't know for sure.
But let me give you a quickrundown on what we know in
novellas four and five, becausethe details are, because the
outlines that he has in placefor the rest of the series, for
the whole Duncan Egg story, isso, so specific that, like his
collaborators on some of theother Song of Ice and Fire books
, like the, the, you know theuniverse books like the, the
(16:36):
ones that you can get, that'slike give you more like info on
the world.
So people that's helped himwork on those books.
They were like very carefulabout what to include in those
books because they were going tospoil Duncan Egg for people.
So it's very detailed, likelaid out, it's not just in his
head, basically.
So novella four has a workingtitle at the moment, but it's an
(16:57):
incredibly cool working titlewith an incredibly cool story.
It's currently titled theShe-Wolves of Winterfell.
It was originally intended tobe published in an anthology
named Dangerous Women, but nowit's been postponed and we don't
know when these novellas arecoming out.
The novella is set inWinterfell, featuring Duncan the
Tall and his squire Egg as theymeet the She-Wolves, a group of
formidable Stark wives, widowsand mothers and grandmothers.
(17:18):
Four may be widows of previouslords of Winterfell and one, the
current, Lady Stark, whosehusband, Baron Stark, is dying
from a wound taken whilefighting.
Ironborn may be a house starksuccession crisis, a struggle
for power among the ladies onbehalf of their children.
We would love to see that thiswould be like a mini game of
thrones kind of an all-femalecast kind of, except for duncan
egg yeah um, like, instead ofhaving the token women in some,
(17:41):
as we have in some fictionseries, you know like the quotes
are just okay.
One woman in the background, Ithink duncan, and we'll just be
like okay, we'll just have twomen there, just for face holders
the main story will be amongthe women.
I think that that's so cool.
I really hope that that getspublished one day.
And then the fifth novella, theone that George said he'll hop
onto after the Winds of Winter,is titled the Village Hero, as
(18:04):
he mentioned, and all we knowabout it is that it's said to
take place in the Riverlands.
So okay, exciting stuff.
And it is that it's said totake place in the riverlands, so
okay, um, exciting stuff.
And I love duncan egg and Iknow george really does as well.
But can he hop onto a dream ofspring after winds of winter?
Speaker 1 (18:17):
because, like a song of ice and fire is waiting
george, I wish you lived to 110and maybe once you finish a
dream in spring you can hop onto the rest of the stories, and
I seem to see there's a themehere.
So the fourth novella is inWinterfell, the fifth one is in
Riverlands, so I'm just going toassume the sixth and they're
(18:39):
all going to be in differentlocations.
You know, because, duncan, theygo everywhere.
So that's kind of cool, likeevery season, even if we get to
like a season seven or seasonfive, we're like, okay, it's
kind of cool that every seasonis going to be in a different
location, not just king'slanding, not just winterfell you
know, you mentioned thelocation thing, how, like, each
(19:01):
season might be set in adifferent location and I think
that would be really cool, youknow, to allow us to see more of
the world of, of you know, of wWesteros on screen, Even though
you know they have theseincredibly detailed outlines and
the She-Wolf's idea is reallycool.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I hope they stick to their plan.
But, you know, considering wehave all of this left you know,
books four to 12 left it makesme worried about how they're
going to end the show.
I assume they're just going toend it with a flash forward,
which I hope again issatisfactory.
Because they're just going toend it with a flash forward,
which I hope again issatisfactory, because, like, how
are you going to wrap up thestory so neatly if it's supposed
to be 12 novellas and you'rejust doing three, makes me a bit
(19:36):
concerned as to how they'regoing to end the series.
But I trust them and if Georgeis happy, I'm happy.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, well, wait a minute.
I hope it's good, don't say Itrust.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
No, I trust George, sorry sorry.
I trust George, I trust George.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I think that Trust.
George, it depends on True,true.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Thank you for catching me saying that.
I trust George, I trust.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
George, I think it depends on the success of the
show.
If it's really popular, I'mpretty sure they'll be like okay
, george, we're on season twonow.
Season four will be in fouryears.
Can you help on that?
If it's a show that people kindof dig like, oh, we like it,
but it's not really popular, Ithink they'll be like we're done
(20:21):
with three.
We'll give you a little fiveminute montage of, or have like
a scene of them, and then yousee like Taiwan in the back or
them introducing them to taiwan,or you know some cheesy thing
like that.
If it's not successful, then Ithink you know.
And then that's what happenedwith the game of thrones.
It became so huge, it was likea global phenomenon and they got
(20:44):
nervous and they go oh we gotta, we can't let these people wait
.
We got to hurry up, which isfunny because even back then
they were doing every two years.
They weren't doing every year.
They could have said okay,everybody, we're going to take a
three-year break, but trust us,we're going to have 10 great
episodes.
You know what I mean?
I would have been fine withthat for season seven and eight
(21:07):
to have 10 episodes, if theymade us wait.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
And I think thatorge said it himself, where he said
it should have been 10 seasonsand everyone wanted it to be 10
seasons.
I think no one expected it tobe eight and no one expected
season seven and eight.
I don't know if six is, but Idon't think it it's counts.
I don't think it applies wherethey have less episodes.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You know like I think season six is ten, but no one
wanted it to be to end that sooncan you imagine a season, like
a half a season, if they had 10,11 seasons, and half of one of
those seasons would have beenexploring the what, where and
why or motivations of the whitewalkers?
(21:48):
Okay, why are they doing this?
Like why, you know what I mean,like you don't want to hear
them talk, but just kind of giveus a background of them and you
know.
Just don't be like, okay, we'reat your doorstep and then the
next day everything is done.
We have a couple of questionsthat I want to just ask them
right now.
First question is from CaseyElaine, underscore 13.
(22:08):
She asked do you think the showcan succeed without the big
spectacles, dragons and battles?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Personally, I'd say that I think that it could.
I think that people walked awayfrom season two of House of
Dragons, kind of needing a breakfrom all the dragon-ness.
You know, like when I talk tofriends or people like, oh, what
do you think, what do you wantto see about Game of Thrones,
like in the prequel, becausethey or people like, oh, what do
you think, what do you want tosee about game thrones, like in
(22:35):
the prequel, because they wereasking me like what's in the
works and stuff.
And then they were like, to behonest, like I don't think I
want to see any dragons for awhile.
Like I told them, oh, butyou're egg and the conqueror,
like that's a very cool story,I'd love to see it.
They were like, yeah, like, butI, I kind of need a break from
from all that now.
So the fact that more than oneperson told me like that that's
where they're at, I kind of feellike like duncan, and weirdly
is premiering at the right time,like, luckily enough for them,
that, um, people are feelingthis way that they've had enough
(22:55):
dragons and battles and stuffand people wanted, I think, a
silver paste from house thedragon season two.
It's time is going to help itsucceed and land well with
audiences.
That's my, my, my take on itlike one of the reasons why it
could succeed.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
It could succeed whereas otherwise it wouldn't
have I think, the show beingmore grounded, not focusing so
heavily on, like the lords, andmore of the small folk commoners
, the show will be morecharacter driven, we'll have
these fresh stories to tell andbut it will still have that game
of Thrones-esque vibe to it.
(23:30):
When I say the vibe is becausewe'll be encountering Baratheons
and Targaryens and Tullys andall those people, even though
we're not going to be seeingdragon battles or seeing dragons
at all.
I think it can work because theheart of the story is going to
be Dunk and Egg, their chemistryand how they deal with
(23:52):
situations that come out.
And I just want to saysomething about egg.
He's a great character becausehe's eight years old in the book
, but I think, uh, dexter solanzo, who plays the egg in the
show, he's 10 and I think umpeter claffey, is that his name?
Who's playing, sir Duncan?
Yeah, Peter Claffey, I'd sayhe's 28 years old but Dunk is
(24:18):
like 17 in the book, so that'skind of a big age jump there,
but to Egg he's going to be.
I don't know why he reminds meof Arya a bit sometimes, like he
, and I don't know why hereminds me of aria a bit
sometimes, like he, and I don'twant to explain why he reminds
me of aria.
It's hard, because for me toexplain that it'll give you the
(24:41):
spoilers but I'm just sayingyeah that he's gonna bring that.
That sass, he's, he's, he's asmart ass.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yeah, he's a know-it-all and it's gonna be
the Arya, sorry the.
Arya example is very accurate.
Like gave a very clear pictureof what they should expect, I'd
say, from Egg.
Because you don't want to sayanything more, I'm so scared to
say something.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think once you watch thefirst episode or when you're
introduced to Egg, that you'llknow right away what's going on
and you'll know where the show'sgonna go.
And it's funny because they,they, they casted this kid,
which I've never seen before.
He's the cutest little kid heis.
So if you see his um instagram,he is so excited to be playing
(25:26):
this role.
He shaved his head, head likefor real, and I think it said
that he previously played youngcoriolanus snow yes I was
reading.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
You saw me reading something I can see it's trying
to figure out like a choreo.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, don't worry that's the newest one, right
yeah okay, did you like that one, by the way?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
that's okay okay, it was okay.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
I I like the book and that's a prequel to the first
okay, all right the dynamic issomething that the writers have
to nail and we have to, like,fall in love with them within
that first episode or two, andthat's how I think, uh, this
show is going to work and once,if you feel that connection to
(26:16):
them, I think them being aslower pace show, it's going to
be okay.
Just going to safely assume thatit's going to be like towards
the finale yeah and once westart covering the episodes and
reviewing them, um, I'll try toremember this point right here,
but this is what I was talkingabout, yeah, I guess I'll say.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
I'll say that's similar to how we saw the
dragons in A New Light.
This is something that we'lljust see in A New Light as well.
You won't imagine this.
You can't really come up withit on your own.
You'll be surprised.
You mentioned Peter Claffey,who plays Dunk.
He's a big guy, he's like 6'5",so he's a really tall guy.
(26:59):
One might have previously seenhim in bad sisters or vikings,
valhalla or the movie, smallthings like these.
I think it's really cool isthat they found someone that's
so perfectly dunk through, justlike a normal public um, like
casting call for hbo.
They just kept the descriptionsof the two lead characters and
immediately people knew thatduncan edgar was going to be
(27:20):
adapted for sure.
And for Dunk the descriptionthat they gave was this soldier
is very tall and physicallystrong, he has a humble
disposition and is perceptiveand thoughtful.
Any ethnicity and must be atleast 6'4".
So I like that they included.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
That must be at least 6'4" and he is a Irish actor
and he played rugby.
He was a professional rugbyplayer, so you know he's pretty
strong.
I have one more question justlet's knock that out really
quick from Anna Sylvester.
She says other than Duncan Egg.
What other characters are youexcited to see on screen?
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I think we share a similar answer because we talked
about it before we startedrecording.
But this is someone that'smentioned briefly by name in
Game of Thrones and if you lookback and try to scramble, you'll
probably figure out a Duncanconnection.
But anyways, the person isPrince Maekar Targaryen.
I think that's a reallyinteresting character and I
(28:17):
can't wait to see him.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
I mean, we're talking about your.
Friends will talk to you likeso much targaryenness, but we're
still gonna have a heavy doseof targaryens in this show.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
It's not the same though.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well, dragon, let's say, we're gonna have some
princes here and we have, likeum, your, your makers, the big
one, but then you have, like theCrown Prince, baelor Brickspear
, then you have ArianneTargaryen.
The other character I'm reallylooking forward to is Ser Lino
Baratheon.
He is the heir to the ancestralseat of Storm's End.
(28:54):
He is known as the LaughingStorm and he's going to be
played by Daniel Ings.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
He's an English actor best known for psychoville
lovesick and he I remember himfrom the crown yeah, and another
character sorry that um, uhwasn't the crown is the actor
that plays um prince baylor.
You mentioned him, I think, umhis name is bertie carville.
He played um tony blair in thecrown.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yes, yes, anybody who T Carville.
He played Tony Blair in theCrown.
Yes, anybody who was cast inthe Crown knows how to act.
Another character I want to see, because I want to see the
dynamics between her and Dunk,is a character called Tanzel,
played by Tansin Crawford.
She's an Australian actor whocame out in the Servant.
(29:39):
She also came out in TinyBeautiful Things and Swift
Street.
So I mean there's a lot ofdifferent characters here.
They cast it really well andit's all about the writing and
hopefully it's strong writing tomake up for, you know, to
stretch out for six episodes.
I know that George is veryexcited.
He's like giddydy, almosttalking about this show and I'm
(30:04):
I'm hoping that uh, equals good,very good, for us I hope so.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
I hope so.
But what I wanted to say isthat I think that george, uh,
like he obviously is veryexcited, but I think it's
because he just really, reallyloves duncan egg.
I'm pretty sure that he pitchedthe Dunk and Egg series to HBO
at the same time as House of theDragon.
He pitched two ideas to them in2016 and then they chose House
(30:31):
of the Dragon.
So then this was on pause for awhile.
This is just kind of the roadto development.
This is how it started.
But actually he was indiscussion with HBO for Dunk and
Egg or any prequel, I guess,back in 2013.
So not long after Game ofThrones premiered, they wanted a
spinoff and then he pitchedDuncan Egg and House of the
Dragon together.
They chose House of the Dragonand then obviously House of the
(30:54):
Dragon was also like a secondoption, because then they went
and ordered the pilots for thelong night.
So it was a long road of DuncanEgg being paused and Ryan
Condon was kind of involved aswell.
Um, he pitched it to georgealso, but then I think george
turned it down.
It's a bit of a like to me.
It was a bit of a confusingsituation.
What happened there, but thefirst time we heard that dunkin
egg could be adapted was in 2021.
(31:16):
So you know, discussions forthe prequel starts in 2013 and
then then it was officiallygreenlit in 2023.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
So that's like a decade of back and forth, of the
show being on pause, and nowit's finally here in 2025 I
think that it was a blessing, indisguise, that house of the
dragon premiered first, becauseI don't think, yeah, people
would have even watched dunkinegg after the no way after the
failure of season eight of gameof thrones people would have
been like we're not watchingthis.
(31:44):
They needed something big tocome back the big dragons and
you know what I'm saying likethey needed that big of show to
get people back on board.
To come back to westeros.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
So I have something actually kind of funny to say,
which is that you know, we gaveour listeners so far in this
podcast episode a very good, Ithink, idea of like the behind
the scenes stuff about the SevenKingdoms.
It's essentially all they needto know.
But what's actually kind offunny is that we haven't really
given them the actual premise ofthe show and the Hedge Knight,
(32:14):
set in an age where theTargaryen line still holds the
Iron Throne and the memory ofthe Last Dragon has not yet
passed from living memory, stillholds the Iron Throne and the
memory of the last dragon hasnot yet passed from living
memory.
Great destiny's powerful foesand dangerous exploits await all
these improbable andincomparable friends.
Dunk and Egg A century beforethe events of Game of Thrones.
They were Sir Duncan the Talland his squire Egg, and it is
set 89 years before thebeginning of Game of Thrones and
(32:36):
77 years after the secondseason finale of House of the
Dragon.
So it's like right betweenHouse of the Dragon and Game of
Thrones.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Before we head out.
I wanted to mention somethingthat I, a few weeks ago, I was
at a casino Okay, I know this isout of left field.
Anyway, I had like a $5 bill inmy pocket.
I found a nickel slot.
I start playing and within twominutes I'm already down to my
last credits.
I tap it, boom, and all of asudden I hit something and it's
(33:04):
just like like just going crazy,and now I have like 4,900
credits, which is 4,900 timesfive cents.
Let me just say that I was kindof not all there because I had
a few drinks and I'm thinkingwhat is this 44,900?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I couldn't compute what that was I go $4,900 times
$0.05.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
So I clicked the thing and when I got the receipt
it said $230.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
OK.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
My son is like OK, let's take that money, let's bet
it, let's go somewhere else.
I'm like no, I'm a winner here.
I bet five bucks and I got 230back.
That's it, I'm done.
So anyway, the point of thisstory is that I took that money
and bought a brand new surroundsound because I had a surround
sound for my TV Very old, thespeakers were going out, in and
(33:55):
out and I got it yesterday inthe mail from Amazon.
I hooked it up and the firstthing I did was put the first
disc of Season 3 of Game ofThrones to my Blu-ray and just
to see, like the sound andanyway, that just got me really
excited to say I really like,want to start Season 3 soon.
(34:15):
So I think what we're trying tosay is that what I'm trying to
say is that I think we're goingto do two to three more
standalone episodes and thenwe're going to start our
coverage and our revisit ofseason three of Game of Thrones
probably in March.
So that's, that's the officialword that we have here.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
That sounds good.
I can't wait to dive intoanother 17 games and go episode
by episode.
But I got to say I can't waitto get to game of thrones season
three as well.
I miss danny.
I miss seeing her on screen, soI can't wait until we just dive
into both of these shows gameof thrones, season three and
denies and deny to the sevenkingdoms.
I think it's also going to besuch a fun experience for us,
(34:53):
but also a treat for ourlisteners because we'll be
diving into both shows episodeby episode.
So that's like a lot of of funGame of Thrones content for them
as well and for us to make.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
What got me excited about covering season three is
that when you put on the Blu-ray, you get the music and you see
all they do a little previewbefore you press play or
anything and you see like allthe little events that happen.
Anyway, that's going to be allfor us.
Minwa and I want to thank youfor tuning into this episode.
(35:22):
Whether you're listening onSpotify, apple Podcasts or
iHeartRadio, we reallyappreciate if you could download
, save and leave us a rating.
It helps a lot To stay up todate with the podcast.
Be sure to follow us onInstagram at
dancingwith__dragons.
If you got an idea or topicyou'd like us to cover, dm us
there.
We'd love to hear from you.
So until next time, take careand peace out.
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