Today brought us our first official look at the trailer for the upcoming show, and it’s already clear that it will be forging its own identity altogether in the world of Westeros. But a closer look at the footage brings to mind a completely different fantasy property altogether — one that stands as a cautionary tale for what co-creator and showrunner Ira Parker hopes to accomplish here.
Those who found themselves charmed by this glimpse into the rough-and-tumble adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his loyal squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) may be reminded of the show’s spiritual ancestor: J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” Famously (or infamously, depending on your perspective), that roughly 300-page children’s novel made its way to the big screen through Peter Jackson’s prequel films. It’s hardly a secret that the production of the “Hobbit” movies was largely a mess, and much of that boils down to the misguided notion of taking a small-scale story and blowing it up to the level of, well, “The Lord of the Rings.”
In an odd way, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” gives its creative team the opportunity to learn a crucial lesson of what not to do. Fortunately, we have a sneaking suspicion that this is exactly what they’ll pull off. Here’s how.
