2026 Is HBO's Game of Thrones Takeover: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Hits January, House of the Dragon Season 3 Drops Right After

Westeros is about to hog our calendars again. HBO just put some real dates on two Game of Thrones projects, and yes, they land closer together than I expected.

So when are these things actually coming?

HBO CEO Casey Bloys dropped the updates while doing the awards-circuit shuffle, and it sounds like the network wants us back in the Seven Kingdoms for most of 2026. Here is the short version:

• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: January 2026. Bloys told reporters at the 2025 Emmys: "I'm going to say January. How about that?" This one started shooting in Northern Ireland in June 2024, was originally targeting 2025, got bumped to 2026, and is now in post. HBO has already put out the first teaser.
• House of the Dragon season 3: early summer 2026. Speaking to Deadline, Bloys said: "I think it’ll be just outside of [the 2026 Emmy eligibility window]." Translation: the Emmys cut off eligibility on May 31, 2026, so expect HOTD to fire back up in June or later.

Little bit of inside baseball here: the Emmy window thing is a classic TV scheduling tell. If a boss says "just outside the window," they want a splashy summer run without competing in that year's awards cycle.

Will the stories connect?

Nope. Even though the shows will land within months of each other, they live in different corners of the timeline. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set roughly 100 years before Game of Thrones. House of the Dragon is about 200 years before Daenerys starts shopping for thrones. So no, you will not see Dunk bump into Rhaenyra at a tavern.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: who and what

This one adapts George R.R. Martin's 'Hedge Knight' from the Dunk and Egg novellas. It follows a towering, well-meaning knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), and his pint-sized squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) as they wander around getting into trouble and accidentally becoming heroes. HBO's own tease leans into the swashbuckling vibe:

"Great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends."

That line reads like marketing copy, sure, but if you know the Dunk and Egg stories, it tracks.

House of the Dragon: where we left off

Season 2 closed with Team Black and Team Green bracing for full-on war. Alicent Hightower misread her dying husband's wishes, put her son Aegon II Targaryen on the throne that was supposed to go to Rhaenyra Targaryen, and the whole board flipped. Season 3 now has to clean up that mess and answer a couple big questions the show parked on the runway: where is Daeron Targaryen, and is Aegon actually going to recover?

Bottom line: January gives us Dunk and Egg, summer brings back the dragons, and HBO clearly wants Westeros to own 2026. Sharpen your Valyrian steel accordingly.