A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms’ Title Change Explained By Creator

Warning: Spoilers ahead for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ final episode.HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has officially concluded its highly successful first season, but one moment from the finale has left everyone confused, and that’s the title of the series.

The series is adapted from George R. R. Martin’s Dunk & Egg novels as the humble knight Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall (played by Peter Claffey) and his clever young squire Egg (played by Dexter Sol Ansell) travel across Westeros. Leading up to the final episode, Dunk faced the Trial of Seven and lost some friends along the way, so he had to face the consequences of the battle and figure out what his plans are next.

During the final moments of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a title card appeared on-screen and read “A Knight of the Nine Kingdoms,” which led many fans to question if the series would now be known under a new name. Showrunner Ira Parker confirmed to the LA Times that, “we’re not changing the name of the show.” However, the question remains as to why Parker decided to end the first season with a new title card, and in an interview with Variety, explained the purpose.

“That’s maybe me getting a little too jokey. People may hate it or crucify me for that, but there’s a bit of a lighter touch to these shows. And I’m going to learn some things. People are going to have a reaction to it, and I’m going to have a reaction to it after not seeing it for a few months. And we’ll see. I like it. Enough of the wonderful creatives that I worked with liked it, too. It came from an honest place. It’s all true. It’s nine kingdoms at that point.

We want to make Westeros a fun place to hang out, even when terrible, terrible things are happening and everyone’s sad, just like real life. You can still make jokes at a shiva, and it’s OK. We need that relief. So even in a bad spot, Dunk and Egg are still Dunk and Egg again.”

Dunk (Peter Claffey) looking at his shield in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode 6. (1)

According to Parker, there were many discussions regarding naming the series initially, as the series is based on the Dunk & Egg novellas by Martin, with people questioning if the series should really be named after the books it’s based on.

“Early on, George was like, ‘Just don’t call it ‘Dunk & Egg’ — it sounds like ‘Laverne & Shirley.’ It sounds like a sitcom.’ I said, ‘Oh, absolutely fine.’ As it got really late in the game when we were putting the final touches on the post-production process, I did sort of waver a little bit. I said, “Everyone’s just gonna call it ‘Dunk & Egg,’ so why don’t we call it that?” Then I was talked down to by my assistant that it wasn’t a wise idea. And I agree. It’s nice to see a show called “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” and come there to find out that it is just a little lighter and has some fun, rather than setting people up with ‘Dunk & Egg’ and you sort of know what you’re gonna get. I hope.”

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has been widely praised and boasts some of the highest-rated episodes in the Game of Thrones franchise, but also has the highest-rated episodes of any series. It has been confirmed that a season 2 is underway with the beloved Dunk and Egg headed to a place very familiar for fans of the franchise, called Dorne, and the new season will be called “The Sworn Sword.” It hasn’t been confirmed when the fan-favorite duo will return, but fans are already eager for more.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is available to stream on HBO.