Producer of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms-HBO’s next series featuring the huge success of Game of Thrones— he says he has no social media. Still, Ira Parker “knows too much [that] Fan engagement in all things George RR Martin is at an all-time high.”
That is almost an understatement; in the middle Game of Thrones, The House of the Beastand Martin’s books (The Winds of Winter when?), few other writers are subject to such scrutiny from people who feel so passionate about their works. But Parker, whose new series agrees with Martin Tales of Fighting the Egg novellas, you think that passion is a good thing.
“I hope everyone wants to work on something that will be seen by millions and millions and millions of people around the world,” he explained in a recent statement. Knight of the Seven Kingdoms roundtable interview attended by io9 and other journalists. He admitted it was “a little scary” but thinks anyone who fears the show won’t be faithful to a popular source can rest easy.
“I’d say anyone who’s a fan of the novel will be a fan of the show. We’re telling the same story; we have the same beginning, middle, and end. We’re not going out of the book. We’re not sending Dunk on any unusual quests,” Parker said.
The screen version of the story stars Peter Claffey as Dunk, a hedge knight who gets in over his (too tall) head when he strikes out on his own for the first time after his master’s death, deciding to enter a close contest he’s somewhat unprepared for.
“I love this novel,” said Parker. “I love Dunk, and George agrees. He often says this is the best thing he’s ever written—which might be his version of saying this is his favorite thing he’s ever written. And I took that to heart early on. I wanted to make sure he was happy and saw this exposure the right way.”
This was not always the case in Martin’s conversion; Thankfully, the author had some negative things to say about some of the story changes that were made to them The House of the Beast. In a recent profile in the Hollywood Reporter, Martin explained his relationship with Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal “like hell” and said that when the show reached its second season, he “just stopped listening to me”—a feud made public by Martin’s deleted blog post criticizing the series.
But for Parker, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms it has been a very agreeable experience.
“Because we agreed on what it was and who these characters were and what the story was, it was easy. Everything was a conversation beforehand and there’s no better person to talk to about Westeros than George RR Martin,” said Parker.
“It’s fun, we make fun of each other, and it’s only a benefit to this game. Look, is everybody going to like this game? No. But I hope everybody’s going to appreciate that we made a good effort. We really tried. We’re not perfect in our score—but, you know, so is Dunk.”
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms It premieres January 18 on HBO and HBO Max. It runs six episodes in total with weekly releases.
Looking for more io9 news? Check out when you can expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe in film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
