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A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin hasn’t held back when it’s come to the adaptations of his work, even as it’s happening; think about his complaints about the last season of HBO’s House of the Dragon last year, for example. It’s not all bad news, though; that willingness to tell it as it is means that when he loves something — like the next HBO adaptation of his work, for example.

Writing on his personal blog, Martin talks about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the upcoming prequel to Game of Thrones that is expected to debut at some point during 2025. “I’ve seen all six episodes now (the last two in rough cuts, admittedly), and I loved them. Dunk and Egg have always been favorites of mine, and the actors we found to portray them are just incredible. The rest of the cast are terrific as well,” Martin enthused.

The series is an adaptation of the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, which launched with 1998’s The Hedge Knight. According to Martin, “It’s as faithful as adaptation as a reasonable man could hope for (and you all know how incredibly reasonable I am on that particular subject). Viewers who are looking for action, and more action, and only action… well, this one may not satisfy you. There’s a huge fight scene here, as exciting as anyone could ask for, but there are no dragons this time around, no huge battles, no white walkers… this is a character piece, and its focus is on duty and honor, on chivalry and all it means.”

The show stars Peter Claffery, Dexter Sol Ansell, Finn Bennett, Bertie Carvel, and Tanzyn Crawford; Ira Parker, who’d written for House of the Dragon, is showrunner and screenwriter. Black Mirror’s Owen Harris directs the first half of the series, with Sarah Adina Smith filming the last three episodes.

Martin didn’t just act as booster for the series; he also offered the most concrete idea of when the series will debut, saying that it’ll come “late this year… How late, I could not say.” In case all of this didn’t convince you to tune in when the show does drop, then perhaps this will: “I hope you will love the show as much as I do,” is how Martin ends talking about the series. If George R.R. Martin is that into it, then what fan wouldn’t be into it?

House of the Dragon season 2 may be over, but Popverse is still in the Westeros spirit, and we've got more Game of Thrones articles than could fit on a spiky chair. We'll tell you how to watch through the Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon saga in order, or if you're so inclined, read through it. We've dug through and exhumed the biggest differences between the two HBO shows set in Westeros, and gotten an inside look at them from House of the Dragon's prop designers. We've covered the history of Westeros's greatest houses & families, talked you through every single dragon in House of the Dragon so far, and peered into the future regarding A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO's upcoming GoT spinoff, and we've got much, much more on the way.