It’s a busy week in the GTU (Game of Thrones Universe). Those Aegon the Conqueror rumors keep swirling. House of the Dragon finally began filming for season 2 (about time, right?) And today, during HBO Max’s wild news conference of ups and downs and name drops (more on that below), we got the craziest news of all. Dunk & Egg are officially making the jump from page to screen in the next iteration of the live-action GOT incarnations. How do you feel about all this info?!
Dunk & Egg are only 3 novellas deep, but apparently HBO (details below) thinks that’s more than enough for a series. I might remind them that each novella is no more than 70-100 pages, but who am I to tell Warner Brothers, famous makers of 3 three hour plus Hobbit-sized epics based on one itty-bitty short children’s novel that there’s not enough source material to adapt? Ha! The nerve of me.
Anyhoo, Dunk & Egg have been beloved by many readers for decades, and their escapades that take place roughly 100 years or so pre-GOT time is sure to excite the base, and titillate the Internet. Besides, if ratings count for anything, HBO (dammit!) is sure to have another massive hit on their hands, if HOTD’s runaway successes are any indication.
According to HBO‘s press release, here is the logline:
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 those improbable and incomparable friends.
It will be written and executive produced by George R. R. Martin (!) and Ira Parker, with Vince Gerardis and Ryan Condal (HOTD showrunner) are executive producers. Wow. That’s a lot of news to take in…
“Hey David, why do you keep crossing out HBO,” you ask? “Because,” I say, “HBO is making the inexplicably stupid and dumbfounding decision to drop the name HBO and rebrand the streaming service simply “MAX.” You’ve heard that right. What has been the household brand name for the most prestigious and critically acclaimed TV series this side of the planet for decades (or, well, 1999 really, when The Sopranos crashed the network TV party), is officially being rebranded from “It’s not TV, it’s HBO” to “Just Max.” I personally believe this is one of the dumbest decisions they could possibly make. Thank the old gods that it’s the only questionable announcement they made at this press conference!
Your Hogwarts letter is here.
Max has ordered the first ever #HarryPotter scripted television series, a faithful adaptation of the iconic books. #StreamOnMax pic.twitter.com/3CgEHLYhch
— HBO Max (@hbomax) April 12, 2023
….I stand corrected.
In business school we had longwinded discussions about the stupidity of “New Coke” and even they didn’t remove the name COKE! But these geniuses at Discovery think removing HBO is the SMARTEST MOVE EVER!
“Hey, wanna Max it up?”
‘No thanks, I don’t really like Pepsi Max.’
Breaking: Nintendo removing the “Poké” leaving the “Mon.”
Y’all get Mon Purple yet?
GRRM is writing this? LOL
Honestly, the HP news (esp. the fact that Queen Terf will be working on it) is enough of a reason for me to cancel my “max” subscription.
Yay!
I am pretty excited about Dunk and Egg. We really need something a bit lighter in tone and more meshed with the smallfolk in Westeros.
I agree dropping HBO in the name is a strange decision. It is a brand with a lot of clout.. But…probably has to do with making it THE streaming service for all 3 brands, including Discovery.
WBD stock already dropped 6% after the announcement lol.
Way to go Zaslav!
Microsoft announced they are bringing their entire company under one name, Soft & renaming their operating system from Windows to just Wind, then restarting the numbering scheme for Windows 12 & calling it Wind 1.0 which shouldn’t make anyone confused. Soft Wind 1.0 will release in 2025 & the company expects to spend $5 billion on marketing the new needless naming scheme.
This is a very uninformed article. The ‘HBO’ part is simply removed from the name of the service and for a good reason. Having so many MAX originals, reality shows and acquired content associated with the ‘HBO’ name was tarnishing the brand. People didn’t know anymore what was an HBO original and what wasn’t. HBO still exists as a premium tv network and will be a category on this new service.
I think dropping the HBO name is the dumbest decision ever. HBO has always stood in my mind for excellent shows. And I agree with the New Coke remark. When they started streaming and added Max, it already became diluted with tons on stupid shows, movies and cartoons _ I can’t stand sorting through their awful posters to find the decent shows. Also I’m not excited about ‘Dunk and Egg’. And with GRRM writing etc., what has happened to ‘SNOW’, which I was really excited about, and I guess he will never, ever finish ‘Winds of Winter’ or ‘Dream of Spring’ now.
Hello I will try to be less sarcastic in my uninformed nature next time. I am aware that the streaming service is being rebranded to Max, and that one of the included features is “HBO” content. But hey, know what isn’t commonly talked about by regular people who are just trying to tell people to watch their favorite TV shows? The within-streaming service sub-category lists. How aptly catchy.
“You gotta check out The Wire!”
“Oh cool what’s it on?”
“It was on HBO back in the day!”
“Oh cool, I’ll check it out.”
****
“I can’t find it, where’s it streaming?”
“It’s on Max.”
“I thought it was on HBO.”
“It is.”
“OK I’ll Google HBO.”
***
“Wait, HBO doesn’t have a streaming service.”
“Yeah, I told you it’s on Max.”
“No no, HBO IS on Max.”
“Huh?”
“You have to go to Max to watch HBO.”
“Oh, OK…”
*goes to Max, opens up screen. ‘how to renovate a home’ is on the screen*
“Alright, never mind, I can’t deal with this, I’m off to watch YouTube.
Dumb idea.
David Rosenblatt,
“The Wire” is available OnDemand for free if you have an HBO subscription.
Finally a spin off people actually wants to see. Now do SNOW too so we get a better ending to GoT
I have a vague memory of GRRM saying at one time that there might be more Dunk & Egg novels in the future but that he was prioritising finishing TWoW. Still what GRRM says he’s going to do and what he actually does don’t always tally.
I haven’t read the ‘Knight of the Seven Kingdom’ novellas though they are on my “to read” list (list is in my head only and not on paper or stored on the computer). I have mostly heard positive feedback about them though of course there won’t be any dragons in such an adaptation (not if the adaptation is faithful to the books anyway).
Steve Westenra,
I’ve never read a Harry Potter book but I don’t think JKR is the queen of the TERFs. I think calling women “womb havers” etc is pretentious. I’m a fairly tolerant old coot but there have been cases of people assigned male at birth (not necessarily ones that identify as transgender/female) who have attacked women in public loos or loos in colleges. I do think women deserve safe spaces. When I first heard the word I didn’t even know what a TERF was – I had to look it up.
About the dropping of the HBO/Home Box Office part of HBO’s name. For myself I think HBO identifies the brand better than “MAX”. After all MAX can be associated with “Mad Max” and “MAX HEADROOM” to name but two and I’m sure there are other brands that I just can’t think of at present with “Max” in their title or description.
I really enjoyed A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and i’m looking forward to this series. But GRRM clearly struggled with writing novellas. He would end scenes abruptly or things would happen off screen. And yet he still indulged in long descriptions of sigils and pavilions. It amused me. There is a lot of room for expansion, but I can’t imagine more than 3-4 Episodes on each story
Dame of Mercia,
I personally think that most of the arguments around transgender issues are a language problem. Different language and they would not be as charged and political as they have become.
I believe that anyone of any gender has the right to wear what makes them feel whole, love who they want, etc. without judgement. I also don’t think that loving fashion, wearing make-up or doing anything else that is considered “feminine” is what makes someone a woman. Being a woman is simply what kind of body one has, independently of who or what one likes or feels. Same with being a man. It is a basic physiological reality, important medically, and should not be confounded with identity at all. And this is my basic issue with trans politics: it often goes AGAINST what feminists have fought for in this sense.
So we simply need different language around gender, that does not continue to mix bodies with identities.
I have not followed the drama around Rowlings’ comments, but what I did read did not give me the sense that her thinking was rooted in actual hate. Perhaps a bit of ignorance of interesex etc. but not hatred.
oh, and bathrooms are an architectural problem with easy design solutions.
I’ve very disappointed to see such blatant transphobic bigotry in this comment section.
Too Tired To Not Be Anonymous,
Hang on, I never said I hated transgender people. I have (as far as I know) only met one transgender woman in real life and I got on okay with her. I knew her when I lived* in another part of the country so haven’t seen her for a number of years since I moved. If people have issues I prefer that they keep dialogue open and discuss things sensibly and rationally rather than try and shout each other down or worst sense scenario try and bash each other up. I have observed that attention seems often to be drawn to concerns between (some) cis women and (some) transgender women rather than between FtM transgender people and cis men. However it’s not just with cases pertaining to transgender matters; these days with controversy about random subjects it’s become rarer (in my experience) for dialectic discussion to be employed and it is somewhat more common for eristic argument to be used.
Well I’m getting away from the raison d’etre of this thread – the adaption of Dunk and Egg. I’m going to put my thinking cap on and think of actors who could play Dunk and Egg…..
Noticed I’d typed ‘lied’ rather than ‘lived’ – fortunately it was while I could still edit the post!!!
….and I forgot to put an asterisk at the beginning of my final paragraph in my comment above.
I suppose if you’re living life trying to actively find things to be offended by then you’ll always find something to be offended by even if nothing offensive happened.
I wouldn’t bother even trying. They just want to shut down the conversation and have no interest in an honest and/or open discussion, no matter how reasonable or respectful you try to be. They’re just going to call you a transphobe over and over, even if you’re not. Welcome to modern day politics where everyone’s either a racist, a misogynist, or transphobe.
Steve Westenra,
Close the door on your way out sweetheart, your presence, or lack of one, will not be noticed. LOL
Oh dear, what am I like …. “worst case scenario” not “worst sense scenario”.
I’ll just clarify – and perhaps I should have put it in my earlier post – that I have come across (more online than in real life) people who have been more “transphobic” than JKR so I don’t see her as a leading “terf” and I’m not convinced that she is transphobic. In my experience dyed-in-the-wool “terfs” will be out and proud about what they think.
I haven’t thought of any prospective actors for Dunk and Egg yet though.
Too Tired To Not Be Anonymous,
Can’t expect everyone to indulge your delusions.
Trans people have real reasons to feel unsafe, and that can sometimes lead to lashing out online when triggered. I think piling on to “Too Tired to Not be Anonymous” is unhelpful. Maybe they were trying to start a flame war here, but maybe they were also just scared at where this might be going.
Egg is going to be a wonderful opportunity for some charismatic kid out there who we have not met yet. Hopefully it will be a good experience that will not scar them for life. Bonus: his head will be shaved for most of the show so hair colour does not even matter.
Dunk is Brienne’s ancestor and I very much hope whoever is chosen captures her innocence and determination. I do not tend to dreamcast because I often prefer meeting new actors to seeing familiar ones, as long as they are good of course. Sean Bean as Ned was a brilliant decision that fired up the fan base while making important and subtle story connections to Tolkien so sometimes there is a role for well-known actors. I am not sure that is the case with the role of Dunk though.
Another interesting speculative thread in the histories related to Dunk and/or Brienne, is Larissa Velaryon, early companion of Rhaena Targaryen who, in around 36-40 A.C. was “suddenly” sent away to marry the second son of the Lord of Tarth. This probably happened while Maegor was in exhile.
In separate threads in the histories we know that Aegon the Uncrowned, Rhaena’s brother-husband was popular with the ladies and did not shun their affections. That seems likely to be a euphemism for him being sexually active and probably having bastards.
I think then that it is safe to conclude that it is highly likely that Larrissa’s “Tarth” daughter was actually the daughter of Aegon, and that therefore the line of Aegon the Uncrowned continued in House Estermont and other Stormlands Houses when this daughter married, including main line House Tarth (cousins).
Give me the Snow sequel and I will be much more excited!
I feel like this announcement created zero hype online. People were more excited back in 2019 when House of the Dragon was announced.
I guess it doesn’t matter that much. Having just a third of HOTD’s audience would be an insane success for this show, because it is probably going to be the cheapest GOT show by far. Certainly much less expansive than Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
Or shows like The Last of Us, Westworld and so on.
So having just a third of HOTD’s audience would mean almost 10 million viewers per episode which would be crazy for a show on this scale.
I agree that Snow is a show that will generate the most interest. It’s not even a competition.
Corlys was extremely boring character in S1 of House of the Dragon. Spinoff about him won’t be exiting to anyone. I am not saying they can’t eventually make a solid show if they actually give him personally and hire actually charismatic actor to play younger version but that’s not going to be a huge hit.
The same is the case with Nymeria.
Snow is the only show in development that has potential to be popular like GOT and HOTD.
Amazing that HBO would commit to starting another GRRM series based on books that he hasn’t finished writing and never will. Here’s what the man himself has to say:
“If THE HEDGE KNIGHT turns out as well as we hope it will, our hope would be to go on and adapt THE SWORN SWORD and THE MYSTERY KNIGHT as well. That will take a few years. Then comes the hard part. Before we reach the end of the published stories, I will need to find time to write all the other Dunk & Egg novellas that I have planned. There are… gulp… more of them than I had once thought. There’s “The Village Hero” and the Winterfell story, the one with the She-Wolves, and maybe I need to write that Dornish adventure too to slip in between “The Hedge Knight” and “The Sworn Sword,” and after that there are… ah… more. I just need to finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, and then do either A DREAM OF SPRING or volume two of FIRE & BLOOD, and slip in a new Dunk & Egg between each of those in my copious spare time… and that will keep me ahead of Ira and his merry crew… for a few more years.”
Already delusional about keeping up. Again.
I am reasonably interested in Snow and see some potential there, but personally I am more excited about Dunk and Egg. Maybe that is just because I LOVE that the world building is so historically rich for ASOIAF, and I want to see more of it, but it is also because GOT was always strongest whenever it mixed the brutal world of Westeros with the perspective of kids growing up within it.
I believe GRRM wrote a lot of this backgrounder stuff as a way to help him work out things related to the main series. A lot of that has to do with family trees and historic alliances. Dunk and Egg on the surface is about the two main characters and their bond, but in the background it is all the details necessary to understand the Blackfyre era, and from there, to understand the eventual connections between Essos and Westeros, and within Westeros in the main series.
I am wildly excited about a Dunk & Egg show and think it would work well for a variety of reasons. One of course is the sheer belovedness of the characters and stories. Even if GRRM never writes another word, they could still squeeze out three seasons (one for each of the completed novellas), which can stand alone, yet tie into the universe nicely. Everyone knows we’re gonna watch it no matter what. And without expensive dragon CGI, I imagine the process will be quicker and easier. Not to say that they won’t purposely drag it out, but whatever.
For some reason, I’m even more interested in what they might do with the Snow project. We in the fandom can get so serious (and angry). I’m guilty of this myself. But I try to remember that this is entertainment, and how much fun it is to speculate and bounce around tin foilly ideas. My curiosity level is super high about Snow. And I know (next to) nothing.
I find the Dunk & Egg novella to be fun light reads but I’m not really sure they will translate as well to TV and certainly they would have a different feel to them compared to Game of Thrones or HotD. I’m pleased overall but remain cautious to the success of this show.
I must admit I didn’t enjoy Dunk and Egg, although I rather liked the main characters. The rest, however, seemed devoid of the deapth characteristic for the rich tapestry of various voices and personalities which is ASOIAF. But, fan as I am, I am going to watch this new show if it happens, even less than enthusiastic now.
Reading all your comments helped, as it let me see other opinions and reasons to open to these novellas.