4K Review: “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Season 1

HBO loves George R. R. Martin’s dragons and the lives of the humans around them, and why not? The drama in Game of Thrones exploded viewer interest in a medieval fantasy world based on the historical War of the Roses, just spiced up with dragons and magic.

Eager for more stories in the land of Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms, HBO first went back in time, where the Targaryens rule was unquestioned and their dragons were as large as some towns. The stories in The Hedge Knight series take place approximately 90 years before the start of Game of Thrones Season 1, so we get a glimpse of the world before

With the viewers eager for yet more tales from the Seven Kingdoms, the next series is this, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which is based on a 2018 graphic novel, “The Hedge Knight”, which itself was expanded from a Martin short story that appeared in the Legends: Stories By The Masters of Modern Fantasy anthology, first published in 1998, ironically, published in between A Game of Thrones, Book 1 in the series, in 1996. and Book 2, A Clash of Kings in 1999. Remember when there used to be only about 2 years between books in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series?

The original graphic novel came out in 2004, but has since been re-released by different publishers, and has been followed by more graphic novels adaptations of sequel novellas. With “The Sworn Sword” and “The Mystery Knight”, it’s probably safe to guess that maybe we’ll see at least two more seasons of this show. Martin himself has also said he intends to write more stories in the Dunk and Egg series, but we probably should not place any bets on when those may arrive.

That said, this 4K release of Season 1 shows me that HBO does still care about the physical media releases of its showcase original series. The contain the “Inside the Episode” mini featurettes, similar to the ones for Dune: Prophecy Season 1, and includes a bonus series, “A Knight in the Making”, which is itself a miniseries about the making of the series. I like that this was included, because in HBO Max, it is an entirely separate “show” and the three episodes are listed as a “Season 1”. I take that as a strong indicator that they will be continuing to do one of these miniseries for each season, the way they have made “The House That Dragons Built” as a miniseries accompanying “House of the Dragon”.

There is also a version of the “Welcome to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” introductory featurette, which is slightly extended from the version you can watch on HBO Max. The HBO Max version is approximately 4 minutes, while the version on the disc is approximately 4:15. The disc also includes a short Ashford Meadow set tour presented by Dexter Sol Ansell (Egg), that appears to be exclusive to the disc, also not available on HBO Max.

And I think I needed that blooper reel to be about 5 minutes longer… they looked like they were having a ton of fun making this show.

There are other bonus features you can watch on HBO Max that are not included in this release, specifically the “Thank you” videos. There are three of them, one from Peter & Dexter, one from Sam, Daniel and Tanzyn, and one from Finn and Shaun. Each video is only about 1 minute or so, so I can sort of understand why that might not be on the disc, but there’s one more bonus, “The Trial of The Seven”, that goes into how they designed the shots that made it look like the viewer is in the saddle on the horses as they progress through that test. I wonder why that was not included in this set.

Alas, I do not have the setup to appropriately test the advanced high definition audio features (Dolby Atmos TrueHD and its purported immersive 3D surround sound design). But the audio track that came through my system did indeed have clarity and enough spatial separation of the environment on screen to feel like you could be in the scenes.

Subtitles are available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Castellano), Dutch (Nederlands), Chinese, Korean, Spanish (Latino), ?eské (Czech), Dansk (Danish), Suomi (Finnish), Norsk (Norwegian), and Svenska (Swedish). The curious part is that only English, French and Spanish are listed on the cover.

There seems to be a technical issue with Disc 1 in the set I received to review… no background image on the main menu. I am now curious if this is related to the major operational glitch I discovered. There is a major issue with the featurette “Building A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” which is on Disc 1… there are enough glitches in it — pauses, frozen video, stuttering audio, skipping — that it is unwatchable. If you need to watch it, and your disc is acting up like this, you are out of luck. This featurette is also not on HBO Max.

If you are a completist for the “Game of Thrones” universe, or just a fan of the storytelling and attention to detail that HBO lets the showrunners for these series engage in, this set will not disappoint, unless you get a copy that has the Disc 1 issues noted in this review.

This A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 2-disc set was released on 4K UHD on June 16, 2026 from HBO Home Video, and should be readily available from your favorite physical media retailers.

This 4K UHD set was provided by HBO Home Video for review purposes, and we thank them!

Based on an adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novella “The Hedge Knight.”, the series brings to life the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and his young squire, Egg, in a sweeping tale set a century before the events of Game of Thrones. Fans can relive all six thrilling episodes from Season One along with exclusive bonus content, including never-before-seen featurettes and behind-the-episode specials.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Complete First Season– includes all 6 Season One episodes, plus (2) exclusive bonus featurettes:
“Building A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”
“Welcome to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (Extended)

Additional Bonus Features:
“A Knight in the Making” web documentary series (Episodes 1-6)
“Ashford Meadow Set Tour with Dexter Sol Ansell”
“Inside the Episode” (Episodes 1-6)
Character Spotlights:
* Meet Dunk
* Meet Egg
Blooper Reel

Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms stars Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall, Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg, Daniel Ings as Ser Lyonel Baratheon, Bertie Carvel as Baelor Targaryen, Danny Webb as Ser Arlan of Pennytree, Sam Spruell as Maekar Targaryen, Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway, Finn Bennett as Aerion Targaryen, Edward Ashley as Ser Steffon Fossoway, Tanzyn Crawford as Tanselle, Henry Ashton as Daeron Targaryen, Youssef Kerkour as Steely Pate, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Plummer and Daniel Monks as Ser Manfred Dondarrion.