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HBO Planning Dunk and Egg, Other Thrones-properties


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Big news out of Hollywood today, as Variety first revealed that HBO is in early development on adapting the Dunk & Egg novellas (collected in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms [affiliate link]) to the screen:

“The one-hour show would be based on the series of fantasy novellas by George R. R. Martin, which follow the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk) and a young Aegon V Targaryen (Egg) 90 years prior to the events of “A Song of Ice and Fire.

“No writer or talent is currently attached to the project, but sources say it is a high priority for HBO as the premium cabler looks to build on the success of Game of Thrones.


This was followed up half an hour later by EW’s James Hibberd (author of Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon [affiliate link]) reporting that it goes beyond Dunk & Egg:

“But that’s not all. HBO has been meeting with other top writers pitching others ideas based on Martin’s works. Among the ideas being contemplated is a prequel series based on Robert’s Rebellion, the war for the Iron Throne that upended Westeros a couple of decades before the events in Thrones. All the ideas are prequels; there are no sequels or spinoffs from the original series currently under consideration.

“One of the writers is a name familiar to HBO genre fans: Bruno Heller, who created the ambitious historical drama Rome [affiliate link], a series that was seen as a bit of a short-lived precursor to Thrones. That said, no writer is yet attached to any project.”

 



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I saw a suggestion of Tom Hopper from Umbrella Academy as Dunk.

I'd think this series wouldn't need 10 episodes a season.  4 to 6 might be the right length, and they'd still need to flesh it out doing at least 2 D&E stories per season.

First season could be The Hedge Knight plus whatever happened in Dorne, though I think in the novellas that happens after The Sworn Sword.

This seems like it would be better as a series of movies.

Edited by SpaceChampion
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I guess Dunk & Egg can only be a limited series so far, with each novel being turned into 2-3 episodes 60-90 minutes long. And they could not possibly continue it until such a time as George has written more novellas. I don't want to see 'The Village Hero' or 'The She-Wolves' on the screen before I read those stories ... and even less do I want to see the later stuff about Egg's life and reign before I read stories about that.

And if that's done right then this could be the springboard for a Blackfyre Rebellion series, because to work Dunk & Egg has to establish the setting right, and give us detailed information on the era and the background of the people who show up - especially for Bloodraven and the second Daemon Blackfyre.

Really not interested in a Robert's Rebellion TV show, though.

That's too close to ASoIaF and will just trigger too many bad GoT memories.

This indicates that HBO is really pushing for George's stuff to become a working franchise ... especially since George opposed the idea of a Robert's Rebellion show or Dunk & Egg at a time before he has finished their story.

I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing ... if you remember what GoT became.

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I agree with Entertainment Weekly's suspicion: is this HBO having another pitch competition for "Phase 3"?

I can see them just doing the first three Dunk & Egg shows as made for TV movies, then going ON BREAK  for a couple of years, waiting for the later ones, when the characters have aged so much they'd need to be recast anyway.

Robert's Rebellion only surprises me in that Martin was so dead set against it.  I think it could work...as a one-shot TV miniseries.  There isn't more than one year's worth of material in it.

If this is indeed part of a "Phase 3" pitch-fest to respond to Star Wars, I hope this means the Valyria prequel gets reconsidered.

....and what the heck was the fifth pitch? The fourth was Targaryen Conquest.

Edited by The Dragon Demands
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A show about Robert's Rebellion would likely start with Harrenhal or, perhaps, even the Defiance of Duskendale and Rhaegar's marriage to Elia Martell to set things up to explode. Like with the Dance - the interesting stuff isn't so much the war but why it was fought.

And then you would set up the Stark siblings, and Jon Arryn, and Robert's and Ned's friendship in the Vale, etc.

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2 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

I guess Dunk & Egg can only be a limited series so far, with each novel being turned into 2-3 episodes 60-90 minutes long. And they could not possibly continue it until such a time as George has written more novellas. I don't want to see 'The Village Hero' or 'The She-Wolves' on the screen before I read those stories ... and even less do I want to see the later stuff about Egg's life and reign before I read stories about that.

 

I think we'll be very lucky to get another D&E Novella.

He's up against it to get TWOW and ADOS finished. 

I think F&B 2 and the remaining D&E stories are a pipe dream in truth.

 

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7 minutes ago, Gravity Grave said:

I think we'll be very lucky to get another D&E Novella.

He's up against it to get TWOW and ADOS finished. 

I think F&B 2 and the remaining D&E stories are a pipe dream in truth.

Doesn't change the fact that I don't want some hacks to finish the Dunk & Egg stories. We already got that with GoT.

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2 minutes ago, Lord Varys said:

Doesn't change the fact that I don't want some hacks to finish the Dunk & Egg stories. We already got that with GoT.

It probably will happen though if they're intent with running with D&E as a prequel series. Likely George will provide them with an outline of what the remaining stories would entail and the showrunners will write the rest. It's not ideal, but it should be a bit harder to mess up than GoT given the simpler nature of the novellas, e.g. fewer characters, only one major arc, etc. 

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My suspicion is that Dunk & Egg is the serious contender from these new pitches and they got approval from GRRM to at least develop the idea so they can pitch it to him. Robert's Rebellion sounds a lot more speculative and I don't see why GRRM would approve that one whilst being so dead-set against it.

Also, if Bruno Heller is going to be re-teaming with HBO then he really should be working on Rome: The Next Generation.

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44 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Also, if Bruno Heller is going to be re-teaming with HBO then he really should be working on Rome: The Next Generation.

Yes, very much so. They could easily jump ahead and do stuff with aging Augustus/Livia and the grown up children.

But Dunk & Egg cannot reasonably be more than a limited series - a couple of episodes per novella could be possible if you really focus on the entirety of the stories - and perhaps even work with flashbacks and long scenes of dialogue for the death of the last dragon, the Blackfyre Rebellion stuff, Bloodraven, etc. - but a proper show is out of the question for this unless they ignore that the novellas aren't finished yet.

And TMK doesn't exactly have any kind of ending, so this really feels odd.

I guess one could wrap it up for the time being if there was some sort of temporary closure by ending things with Dunk & Egg going to Summerhall or King's Landing to live there for a while, but the way those stories are this isn't material for a longer series.

Edited by Lord Varys
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Does George have any say in this? I can't see why he would want another unfinished property of his being developed, especially since he apparently has another dozen installments in mind. Unless he's basically done with TWOW and plans on just cranking out D&E over the course of the next few years?

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3 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Does George have any say in this? I can't see why he would want another unfinished property of his being developed, especially since he apparently has another dozen installments in mind. Unless he's basically done with TWOW and plans on just cranking out D&E over the course of the next few years?

Our last update was that George sold the rights to Westeros to HBO, but not the rights to anything besides ASoIaF the novels. He specifically said he retained the rights to Dunk & Egg.

Of course, this may have changed with whatever deal was made for the Fire and Blood stuff - and the other shows in development.

But unlike with the abandoned Long Night show or the Valyria show anything based on actual published materia - like the Dance and Dunk & Egg - would have to be part of a new deal.

So if there is going to be a Dunk & Egg miniseries or show then George would have made a new deal.

I'd personally like the idea of a limited series being based on the three novels being followed by a longer series about the Blackfyre Rebellion. That could be pretty interesting.

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A couple of years from now there's a possibility that 3 GOT shows will be on at the same time. It seems like HBO is flailing since HBO Max isn't doing well compared to Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime. Moves made in desperation usually don't turn out well. As much as I'd love to see Dunk & Egg brought to the screen, I prefer GRRM finish them first before we have a reply of GOT. 

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11 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

But Dunk & Egg cannot reasonably be more than a limited series - a couple of episodes per novella could be possible if you really focus on the entirety of the stories - and perhaps even work with flashbacks and long scenes of dialogue for the death of the last dragon, the Blackfyre Rebellion stuff, Bloodraven, etc. - but a proper show is out of the question for this unless they ignore that the novellas aren't finished yet.

I really don't think so. That's thinking too small for HBO.

I can see HBO doing this as follows for Season 1: 3-4 episode adaption of The Hedge Knight, 2-part new adventure on the road to Dorne, 4-6 new adventure (but based on GRRM outline) about Dunk & Egg in Dorne. Then open Season 2 with The Sworn Sword and close it with The Mystery Knight, with new adventures filling in the interim.

So on for further seasons (except, obviously, using the outlines for the later stories rather than the stories themselves).

Edited by Werthead
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