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The key moment in HBO's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode 1 isn't a fight; it's a dance [Review]

Come for the swords and shields, stay for the sexually charged moves between Ser Duncan the Tall and Ser Lyonel Baratheon. That's what I got out of the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms pilot, anyway

Features by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Mon Jan 19 2026

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Spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, episode 1.

As somebody that got into Game of Thrones kind of late, I thought that most of the saga amounted to these dark moments of violence and backstabbery. So when I heard that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was something with a lot of heart, I expected essentially a more comedic Game of Thrones - something that still had a lot of action but was funnier or more light-hearted. I was so pleasantly surprised, then, when the key moment of the first episode of the series didn't involve any kind of action at all.

Well, not the swords and shields kind, anyway.

Before we continue - you've probably gathered by now that I'm going to be spoiling a central moment in A Knight of the Seven Kingdom's pilot episode. Don't say I didn't warn you, is all I'm trying to convey.

When we meet titular character Ser Dunk (Peter Clafey), all signs point to him being a fighter. We see him with a sword in his hand, he speaks of a tournament he intends to enter, and perhaps most of all, he stands at an intimidating 6'5". Even as we follow Dunk into the town of Ashford, violence surrounds him - a flurry of knights and squires run through practice duels, drawing blood and shattering bones just in preparation for the even deadlier tournament to come.

So in my head (which is admittedly full of D&D combat scenes), I was expecting the biggest character moment for Ser Dunk to be some challenge of his physical prowess - maybe there'd be bandits, an innocent that needed saving, or a mean drunk he'd have to teach a lesson to. None of that, though, was what bonded me to Ser Dunk by the episode's end.

Although to be fair, what did do that had a great deal to do with a drunkard.

At about the halfway point of the episode, Dunk wonders into the tent of one Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings), a knight with a great deal of money and surrounded by revelers. A tiff begins when Lyonel teases the humble, penniless knight, and it looks like the two might come to blows. But instead, Ser Lyonel offers Dunk to prove himself in a different way - on the dance floor.

What follows is a joyous, fast-paced, and undeniably horny exchange between Dunk and Lyonel, set to an absolutebanger of a medieval theme. Leaving his sword aside, Dunk twists, hops, and kicks through the air, and amidst all the fun, it occurs to the viewer that this is the first time seeing him as he truly is. In this moment, kind-hearted Dunk isn't worried about proving himself as a knight, his own survival, or his moral responsibilities. In this moment, which it seems the whole episode has been leading up to, Dunk proves that he isn't about cutting throats.

He's about cutting loose (ba-dum-tss).

I know that plenty of action is in store for both A Knight of the Seven Kingdom's and its main character. But for a show, and even a genre, that is so mired in building up to fights, building up to a dance sets this series apart not just from Game of Thrones, but from what we've expected from fantasy in general. And I'll be damned if that doesn't put a pep in my own step.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms airs Sundays on HBO through February 22, and available afterwards on HBO Max.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 may have wrapped on HBO Max, but with House of the Dragon season 3 coming just around the corner, it's always a great time to read up on all things Game of Thrones. Fortunately, Popverse has everything you need to journey through the George R.R. Martin-created Westeros, including:

Plus much more coming as it gets announced!

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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.