The new series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms currently delights fans of Westeros. Marco Risch from the YouTube channel Nerdkultur has analyzed the first episode and highlights what sets it apart from Game of Thrones.
Who is Marco Risch? Since 2015, Marco Risch has been publishing videos on his YouTube channel Nerdkultur, where he covers various films and series through reviews, analyses, news, or interviews.
Additionally, he talks with his colleague Yves Arievich once a week on the Podcast Nerd & Kultur about various topics from pop culture.
Both the YouTube channel and the podcast are part of the Webedia network, which also includes MeinMMO.
Marco’s new video deals with the series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which premiered on January 19, 2026, on the new streaming service HBO Max. In it, he shows how the series opener differs from the other Westeros series, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
Here you can watch Marco’s video in full:
A good story is a journey
What does Marco explain? At the very beginning, Marco talks about the showrunner of the series, Ira Parker. It’s important for him that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms does not start dark like Game of Thrones, but with a character who is not yet a hero. According to Marco, Dunk must first become a fully developed character; his story is a journey.
The opening of the first episode makes it clear that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms differs from the previous stories from Westeros. Director Owen Harris, known among other things for a Black Mirror episode with a surprisingly positive ending (San Junipero), is a newcomer to the world of Westeros, and according to Marco, this is a great strength.
Because he would not copy the look and style of Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, but rather give A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms a fresh coat of paint with new stylistic devices. He shows a world full of wit, creative cuts, and a color palette that is noticeably more saturated than in Game of Thrones. Nevertheless, we recognize the world again – it is familiar, and overall, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is therefore a homage to the main series.
A grounded world
What makes the first episode so good? According to Marco, the depicted world feels so real also because it is mostly real. The creators wanted to film as much as possible directly on camera and only rely on visual effects in a few places.
Representative of this approach is the real set, which is self-contained and where a manageable story takes place. The world feels grounded, also because fantasy elements like dragons do not play a role.
And thus, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms often reminds of other knight stories. As an example, he mentions the 2001 film A Knight’s Tale. According to Marco, George R.R. Martin had the urge to spend more time with the lancers of his world, far removed from the grand, epic narrative of Game of Thrones.
Similar to what the author does in his texts, the series would also tell its story from a fixed perspective, a point of view. Dunk is the protagonist, and we experience his search for meaning in life directly through his eyes.
A strength of Game of Thrones
Are there similarities between the series? Marco emphasizes that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, despite all differences, takes one thing from the main series: ambiguity.
Much is only suggested, but not explicitly stated. The camera and the editing work with confusing perspectives, ambiguous compositions, and flashbacks.
The stakes for protagonist Dunk are high: especially at the big tournament, it is about nothing less than his existence – at the same time, his new life begins right there, including a new name: Ser Duncan the Tall.
As such, he will become famous in Westeros, but in Episode 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Dunk is still just a hedge knight, as the episode is titled. According to Marco, there is still a long way to go to fame and fortune. MeinMMO editor Niko Hernes came to a clear conclusion after watching the series: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is not a new Game of Thrones, but that is a good thing.
