George R.R. Martin Wants KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS to Deliver the Greatest Jousting Ever Put on Screen
Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has a very particular dream for HBO’s next Westeros adventure, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, as he wants it to feature the best jousting scenes ever filmed.
During his appearance at New York Comic Con, Martin revealed that he gave showrunner Ira Parker a specific challenge while developing the new series, which is based on his beloved Dunk & Egg novellas, and it had nothing to do with lore accuracy or character arcs.
“I set [the production team] a challenge, which I think Ira and his people have delivered. I said, ‘Let’s do the best jousting sequences that have been ever put on film,. A modest little challenge for Ira and his crew.”
To make his expectations clear, Martin cited a surprising benchmark, the 1952 classic Ivanhoe, which is a film known for its striking tournament scenes.
“I think my favorite previous was 1952’s Ivanhoe. They don’t have much jousting sequences, but what they have are really good. So that’s the standard. You guys will judge how we did. but I think we did really well.”
It’s no secret that Martin has a fascination with medieval tournaments. Jousting has always been part of his worldbuilding, but rarely the centerpiece.
“I’ve always loved medieval tournaments in other pictures, and of course, we had several tournaments in Game of Thrones. But they were in the background, they were not the center.
“But I said… ‘I want to do something that’s entirely set during a tournament,’ because I found tournaments were very exciting.”
That passion for pageantry and steel-on-steel spectacle is at the core of The Hedge Knight, a story that follows Ser Duncan the Tall and his young squire, Egg, as they navigate the politics and perils of a great tournament.
With HBO’s resources and Martin’s old-school cinematic standards, fans might get to see some epic and brutal jousting scenes.
We’ll find out if the challenge was met when A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres on HBO and HBO Max on January 18.