If you watched A Knight of the Seven Kingdomsyou are probably don’t have took careful note of the weather in and around Ashford Meadow. Sure, there’s a bit of rain, mist, and mud, but it’s generally pretty nice. Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) sleep outside at night without complaining about the temperature, for example. But the next season of the series will bring some environmental challenges that our misfit heroes (and the HBO series itself) will have to face.
This, of course, is assuming showrunner Ira Parker sticks this closely to “The Sworn Sword,” George RR Martin’s second film. Tales of Dunk and Egg novels, as he has done so far with the first, “The Hedge Knight”. It seems very likely that Parker will stay the course, given the way he talks about it. his excellent working relationships with Martin. This includes being mostly faithful to what the author put on the page, a few “flourishes” apart.
“The Sworn Sword” picks up with Dunk and Egg as they embark on a new adventure. They’re still in the Reach, the same region of Westeros as Ashford Meadow, but a little further north and west – and it’s the height of summer. The region suffers from a terrible drought, and a dispute over local water rights becomes a major instigator in the story.
With this in mind, Parker had to make some logistical changes for the second season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Addressing the Hollywood journalist (via Collider), he specifically mentioned the drought and how its significance forced the series to move filming locations.
“It will be another six episodes. I think the scope will be [the] the same, maybe even smaller. The budget has stayed the same, but everything is more expensive because of inflation,” Parker explained. “Also, book two is set in a drought, so we can’t shoot on location in Belfast. We have to go somewhere sunny, with no water, which costs money – it’s a big expense that we didn’t have in the first season. I’m having a lot of fun [with] season two. It will be a different season and hopefully for the better.
Production on the second season is currently underway. And the reason we’re getting just a little bit ahead of ourselves is because we’re enjoying the first season so much and we can’t wait to see more. Episode three of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms— we are almost halfway there! — arrives this Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
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