A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Reviews: Game Of Thrones Spin-Off Has Critics Saying The Same Thing

Following the global success of House Of The Dragon, a second Game Of Thrones spin-off has now debuted.

The first episode of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms premiered on Monday morning – but while House Of The Dragon took the epic battles, graphic content and jaw-dropping twists that made Game Of Thrones such a hit and turned them up to 11, this new Westeros-based series takes a markedly different approach.

While critics can’t seem to agree on whether they’re on board with A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, one thing they’ve all picked up on is that the new series is on a far less grand scale than Game Of Thrones, with humour – and crude toilet humour and sex jokes at that – often the driving force of the episodes.

In other words, it’s Game Of Thrones, but not as we know it.

For better or worse, here’s a selection of what critics are saying about A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms so far…

The Independent (2/5) 

“The sort of HBO-specialty gratuitousness that made Thrones such a buzzy provocateur is here, but seems crasser and more jarring than ever. We don’t get five minutes into the first episode before seeing Dunk expel faeces from his bare backside. (A nice ‘Welcome back to Westeros’, I suppose.) The very beginning of the second episode features a long shot of a man with a penis as big as a forearm, micturating in full view of the camera. It’s indecency for indecency’s sake.”

TheGuardian

“This is Game of Thrones at its best. A rich, politically complex meal, with sides of bone-snapping violence. Its boldness has stayed with me, as what started in coarse slapstick becomes a moving exploration of true nobility, survivor’s guilt and goodness.”

NPR

“The fact that it feels so wholly and gratifyingly different than both [Game Of Thrones] and [House Of The Dragon] is the product of a combination of factors – length (just six episodes, each around 30 minutes or so), point of view (instead of rich ruling families, [A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms] is told from the perspective of Westeros’ commoners), scope (the entire series takes place over the course of a few days, entirely in one location) [...] and, especially, tone. A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is a comedy, far lighter, faster and breezier than the shows that preceded it.”

Empire (4/5) 

“Where the main Game Of Thrones series and sister show House Of The Dragon were preoccupied with royals and aristocrats, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms centres a lowborn knight, its tone and feel correspondingly different. This is even reflected in Dan Romer’s folksy-whistly score; Ramin Djawadi’s original theme tune is only briefly deployed, for a brilliantly scatological fake-out in the first episode. (In a valiant commitment to that tonal shift, there is at least one piss, shit or fart joke per episode.)”

New York Times

“The most curious thing about the latest spinoff, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, beginning Sunday on HBO, is how small it is. It focuses, by and large, on one story line. Most of its episodes run around a half-hour because, yes, folks, this is – almost – a comedy. (HBO calls it a drama; my eyes and ears have their doubts.)”

Time

“A slight, shrug-worthy Game Of Thrones filler [...] It tries hard, especially in early episodes, to be funny. Sadly, its idea of humour is, for example, a running joke about Dunk’s eternal gratitude towards Arlan for only beating him when he deserved it. Elsewhere, bodily excretions of various sorts stand in for punchlines.”

Vulture

“What’s surprising is not that things get rough, but how effectively the show sublimates that darkness within a broader register of warmth and humour [...] the humour leans hard on a bawdy, juvenile sensibility — expect a generous helping of poop, fart, and generally scatological gags, plus one bit premised on a shockingly large penis.”

The Hollywood Reporter

“It isn’t so much a Game Of Thrones series for people who hated Game of Thrones, but it’s a Game Of Thrones series for anybody who has ever wondered what, say, a Richard Linklater version of Game Of Thrones would be. It’s a loose hangout comedy, with a tightly contained six-episode narrative arc and episodes generally running under 40 minutes.”

TV Line (B+) 

“There’s a moment early on in the first episode of HBO’s new Game Of Thrones spin-off A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms when that familiar theme music starts playing, and we’re expecting to witness a bit of grand heroism... but then we get to see foul bodily functions instead. That pretty much sets the tone for Seven Kingdoms which ditches the pomp and pageantry of Thrones [...] it’s a welcome change, too, giving us a refreshingly small-scale look at life in Westeros that still manages to pack a considerable emotional punch in the end.”

Slate

“The people behind HBO’s A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, the first season of which premieres Sunday night, have performed something of a miracle… [They’ve made] a Game Of Thronesshow that everyone can enjoy, even those who flinched from its predecessors.”

The first instalment of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is now streaming on Sky and Now, with new episodes premiering every Monday. Watch the trailer below: