A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026)

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026)

The pilot for the most anticipated new fantasy series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, just aired on HBO Max. This is the new series based on George R. R. Martin’s series of books about Ser Duncan the Tall, within the Game of Thrones universe. The timeline takes place between House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones… so this is a completely new cast and, best of all, there’s no magic or dragons in this time period. I’ve long argued that Game of Thrones was best when it was just medieval knight stuff… so A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is everything that I’ve asked for.

We open the show with Ser Duncan, burying his master Ser Arlan of Pennytree, in the middle of nowhere. Before his passing, Ser Arlan knighted Duncan and passed his longsword to Duncan. Duncan, then takes his three horses and headed towards Ashford for a tournament, but stopping by an inn. He meets a bald orphan boy named Egg.

At this point, Ser Duncan is basically a homeless knight, they call them hedge knights, because they don’t have homes and sleeps in the hedges. When arriving in Ashford, Duncan finds out that in order to enter the tourney, Duncan has to get an endorsement from another house. You meet some interesting knights, like Fossoway, beating the crap out of his squire/cousin. You meet the laughing Baratheon, and other characters that will be important later.

As much as I love the Game of Thrones story, I found the pilot to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms somewhat of a letdown. I felt like I was only getting a brief 30-min introduction. A lot of table setups, but no meal. I wish HBO would have released the first two or three episodes to really get us excited for the series.

As for the other series still in production is House of the Dragon, which is returning in 2026. These two or three years between seasons is getting me un-excited – especially because Season 2 of House of the Dragon was a lot of wheel spinning and going nowhere. Still, if HBO time it right, hopefully we can get House of the Dragon Season 3 starting right after A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms ends the first season… to keep the GRRM train going.

Spartacus: House of Ashur (2026)

Spartacus: House of Ashur (2026)

I’ve been a big fan of Spartacus since it aired on Starz in 2010 and I own all the Blurays. After the success of the first season, you found out that lead actor (Spartacus himself), Andy Whitfield was leaving the show. I just assumed he wanted more money, but it turned out he had stage four cancer and eventually died in 2011. Quite tragic, because he was so young, and I didn’t think Spartacus could continue without Whitfield in the lead.

Actor Liam McIntyre would take over the role for Season 2, along with co-stars Gladiators from the first season, including Manu Bennett, who we were lucky enough to see him in person in May 2014. At his Q&A, he talked about how the camera just zoomed in on his penis for an ungodly amount of time. He’s right, it’s an uncomfortable moment in that first season, where often the gladiators are running around nude. Sure, there’s also plenty of T&A from the slave women too (even Lucy Lawless – the Xena Princess Warrior – had a nude scene!)

That was the tone of Spartacus: blood, violence, betrayals, sand, sandals, sex… all the ingredients to make a highly entertaining show.

It’s been a long time since I watched that last season of Spartacus (it ended in 2013 with War of the Damned). If memories serves me right, everybody (I mean EVERYBODY) died in that last season. The Gladiators were up against the Roman empire army or something and they died fighting… even the despicable Ashur died a horrible death.

So, like many others, we were very confused how it is that Ashur is alive and well, and also running the house that previously ran by Quintus (played by John Hannah). What is this? It turned out that the Gods gave Ashur a second chance and … voila, so it has always been that Ashur is the master of the house. It’s just weird, why not just create a brand-new character out of whole cloth? Or maybe just say he was his twin brother or come up with something else.

In House of Ashur, Ashur’s Gladiators are not doing well in the arenas. He has bigger aspiration, and his main goal is to dominate the games in the coliseum, but his current roster kept losing in the small arenas. There is a big fake-out that I really appreciate in the pilot. I really had the rug pulled out of my feet, and I was addicted. It is a great pilot.

Our main character really doesn’t show up until the second episode. There is this controversial scene, where the character rips out a Gladiator’s penis on camera. It was as disgusting as that sounds. No one, including the director, thought they could get away of the penis destroying scene… but they didn’t say anything or censored it. It’s just so gross!

Needless to say, if you don’t mind plenty of nudity (both male and females!), lots of blood and gory violence, you’ll find Spartacus: House of Ashur highly entertaining. The last episode, will air on February 6, 2026.