A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Breaks With Tradition: Why It Won’t Use the Game of Thrones Opening Theme
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is breaking from tradition: the new series will not use Ramin Djawadi’s iconic Game of Thrones opening theme, creator Ira Parker told Entertainment Weekly.
Quick heads up if you were hoping to hum along to that Game of Thrones opener on the next Westeros show: not happening. The team behind A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is going a different direction, on purpose.
No, the classic theme will not be back
Ramin Djawadi's GoT theme is basically the franchise's sonic logo at this point, and House of the Dragon doubled down by bringing it back. But creator/showrunner Ira Parker told Entertainment Weekly the new series is built on a smaller, more grounded scale, so that towering, orchestral, 'look at the map' energy doesn't fit here. The big, grand title sequences of Thrones and HotD work for those shows. This one is about a guy who isn't flashy by design.
'Nobody's thinking about magic. This could basically be 14th-century Britain.'
What this show actually is
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms adapts George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. We meet Ser Duncan the Tall, known as Dunk, a humble former squire who literally knights himself after his lord dies. He falls in with a sharp kid nicknamed Egg, who is secretly Prince Aegon Targaryen, and the two hit the road looking for coin, renown, and a little glory. Parker calls Dunk plainspoken and to-the-point, which pretty much sums up the whole vibe.
Ground-level Westeros, by design
Parker says the show starts from the bottom up. We aren't parked in royal chambers with scheming lords and queens. We are in the mud with working knights, doing the grind, in a world where magic is not on anyone's mind. Think gritty medieval travel story with a light, hopeful streak rather than apocalyptic prophecy or dragon math.
How it fits into the larger franchise
Game of Thrones brought dragons back into the world via Daenerys Targaryen and those gifted eggs from Ilyrio Mopatis, with the White Walkers looming from the very first scene through season 8. House of the Dragon rewound to the Targaryen civil war, where dragons fought dragons and the house tore itself to pieces, leaving the family devastated and the dragons effectively gone.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms pivots away from all that spectacle. No dragons. No magic. If Westeros existed on our map, this could pass for a historical knight's tale. That is the point, and it should open up a different corner of the world without repeating the last two shows.
Quick hits
- Theme song: the iconic Game of Thrones opening will not be used here.
- Why: Parker says the show's intimate, grounded tone doesn't match the big, orchestral title energy Thrones and HotD used.
- Tone: 'hard-nose, grind-it-out' medieval knights with a lighter, hopeful touch.
- Setting vibe: basically 14th-century Britain, not a magical age.
- Lead: Ser Duncan the Tall, a former squire who knights himself after his liege dies; plain, simple, direct.
- Partner: Egg, secretly Prince Aegon Targaryen.
- Premise: Dunk and Egg travel the Seven Kingdoms chasing money, fame, and glory.
- POV: ground-up storytelling, not lords-and-ladies palace drama.
- Dragons and magic: none.
- Scorecard so far: Game of Thrones sits at 9.2/10 on IMDb with 89% on Rotten Tomatoes; House of the Dragon has 8.3/10 on IMDb and 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.
- Where to stream the earlier shows: Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are on HBO Max in the US.
Can A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms hang with those two juggernauts without dragons, prophecies, or that famous theme? Different lane, same world. Honestly, that might be the smartest play.