When ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Releases on HBO Max & Full Schedule

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 once more expands HBO’s Game of Thrones universe with a new approach to fleshing out the franchise, and the unorthodox release format will be pretty surprising to those who regularly tune in to visit Westeros. While the format itself isn’t exactly trailblazing in the TV industry at large, it’s certainly untrodden ground for the iconic fantasy saga. That said, the decisions that have been made in this respect are logical, given A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ spin on the established Game of Thrones formula.

Led by Peter Claffey’s Sir Duncan the Tall, the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms cast brings Westeros to the small screen like never before. Although fans can still expect some highly dramatic moments, the show splits its time far more evenly between light-hearted humor and the more recognizable dark sequences. The Game of Thrones franchise has dabbled with comedy before, but the new prequel takes things to a whole new level in this regard.

‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Season 1 Is the Most Compact ‘Game of Thrones’ Outing Yet

Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, the two shows that bookend Seven Kingdoms in the franchise timeline, are widely enjoyed for their dramatic and cinematic nature. In order to give the various characters and storylines enough time to properly unfold, HBO has routinely provided runtimes of up to and over an hour for episodes within the franchise. However, the latest Game of Thrones spinoff bucks that trend, as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 episodes run for just half of that.

Similarly, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon typically have seasons that are pretty standard for the modern age. The franchise’s parent show’s first six seasons each had 10 episodes, although Season 7 had three fewer, and Season 8 ended the show with six episodes. House of the Dragon Season 1 also consisted of 10 episodes, but it only took until Season 2 before the count was dropped by two. The next two seasons are each expected to maintain that figure.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 will only be six episodes long. Especially considering it’s the show’s first run, that’s a pretty meager figure for an emerging Game of Thrones project. Still, dropping a half-hour episode every week perfectly complements Seven Kingdoms‘ focus on a less intense storytelling style. Plus, as the first franchise effort to be built around a main character rather than a big ensemble cast, it makes sense that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would require less screen time than is traditional, not more or the same.

This new format is even more understandable when it’s considered that George R.R. Martin has only written three Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, on which Seven Kingdoms is based. The limited source material means the live-action adaptation can only really last so long. While Seven Kingdoms could technically go beyond the short stories on which they’re based, Game of Thrones Season 8 is a prominent example of why that’s probably a bad idea. It’s best to keep this new show as compact as possible.

Full ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Season 1 Release Schedule

Each New Episode Premieres on HBO at 10 PM ET

HBO’s Broadcast Schedule
Episode	Title	Date (2026)
1	“The Hedge Knight”	Jan. 18
2	TBA	Jan. 25
3	TBA	Feb. 1
4	TBA	Feb. 8
5	TBA	Feb .15
6	TBA	Feb. 22
Episodes will be available to stream on HBO Max after their initial broadcast.