I I can’t speak for others, but I went into Knight of the Seven Kingdoms very cautiously at first. Game of Thrones (as we all know) almost cratered during its final season, to the point where watching it almost felt like a punishment. House of the Dragon was somehow even worse, but I’ll explain why later.

So, when presented with the opportunity to revisit Westeros, I was hesitant. Fool me once, it’s embarrassing. Capitalism’s desire to lock in all existing IP forever in order to minimize subscriber churn has fooled me so many times, shame on you.

Moreover, the knights of the Seven Kingdoms also look terrible. All of the available clips were so creepy and hilarious that all the comedy that came from the heroic moments seemed marred by silliness. Want to see a classic Game of Thrones archetype get lost on his way home from an important meeting? Check. Also check out Want to see him suffer from explosive diarrhea under a tree? Intentionally or not, the series seemed to be marketing itself as a low-rent parody of previous works. Introducing the Spartans from Game of Thrones.

How wrong I was! Knights of the Seven Kingdoms just finished its (refreshingly short) run, and it might just be my favorite Game of Thrones project. All previous shows have had an “eating your vegetables” element, and have been more interested in explaining the intricacies of a dynasty spanning several generations than in a propulsive plot. Watching the episodes was dizzying, especially in the beginning when we were plunged headlong into a maelstrom of ancestors, conflicts, and thousands of characters who all sounded like the exact same name. Up until now, Game of Thrones has been for people who know the books inside and out. Is there anyone else? We also have Wikipedia, so please feel free to follow us.

But the most thrilling thing about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is how completely simple it is. The current story is as follows. There is a man who wants to become a knight and can go to a joust once. that’s it. There is no secret incest or magic tree. There is no existential threat to all humanity. There are no dragons, and even royalty (which, as the title suggests, is a big deal about Game of Thrones) is given a passing glimpse.

Now, obviously this is the bare minimum, but if you don’t have those basics exactly in place, you run the risk of failing completely. But magically, they are. Sir Duncan the Tall, aka Dunk (The Man Who Wants to Be a Knight), is a big, lovable bozo with good intentions at heart. And as played by the big-hearted, open-faced Peter Claffey, it’s impossible to disagree with him.

Compare this (any decent human being who wants something simple) to the baffling expanse of House of the Dragon. To enjoy this show, you not only have to train yourself to tell the dozens of characters wearing similar wigs apart, you also have to study their place in the lush family tree. There are Rhaena, Rhaenys, and Rhaenyra. There’s Laena and Rhaenor. I have identical twins named Arik and Eric. The whole thing is completely perverted.

But there are dunks, eggs, and lots of fun, unique characters here. The show is set in a series of road trip novellas, so there’s no need to remember anything because you’ll probably never meet them again anyway. The Game of Thrones series doesn’t make me feel like reading the Old Testament carefully. imagine.

Plus, I was wrong about comedy. Although the tone is decidedly lighter than its self-respecting predecessor, the penultimate episode of the series might just be one of the cruelest I’ve ever seen. This is the episode where the jousting actually takes place, and Dunk spends most of its time getting beaten and stabbed in horrifying and oppressive close-ups from his own perspective. The violence he undergoes is incredibly upsetting, but it’s made even worse by the fact that we get to know him and fully understand his motivations.

For a while, this episode had a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. Although it dipped a bit last week, it remains high enough to be in the top five highest rated episodes of the entire series. You can see that the remaining four spots do not contain any House of the Dragon episodes. And in terms of ratings, it was recently reported that Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is averaging 1 million viewers per episode, surpassing The Pit. And The Pit has been so successful that it’s widely touted as the savior of television as we know it.

In other words, what we have is a desirable future for Game of Thrones. The season will be shorter. Tighter focus. Enough space to have a little fun here and there. If the franchise is to expand, this is the direction in which it should expand. But could we have more dunks and eggs as soon as possible in the near future?