Dunk and Egg are back — HBO started filming Knight season 2 and it looks like The Sworn Sword

What this means: Dunk and Egg are on the move, and HBO is already in production

This isn’t a cautious “we might” renewal. Cameras rolled on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 in December 2025, and everything we’ve seen points to a straight move into George R.R. Martin’s second Dunk and Egg novella, The Sworn Sword. Practically speaking: expect a different map of Westeros, a new cast around our two leads, and a season that makes politics and environmental collapse the story’s engine rather than tourneys and swordplay.

• Production status: Filming began December 2025.
• Source material: Season 2 appears set to adapt The Sworn Sword (the second Dunk and Egg novella).
• Confirmed cast so far: Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall and Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg (Prince Aegon Targaryen).
• Release expectation: No date yet – a late‑2026 trailer and a spring 2027 premiere are reasonable guesses given season 1’s timeline.

Why this actually matters

HBO is betting on a particular shape for this adaptation: small in cast, big in local stakes. The Sworn Sword takes Dunk and Egg to the Reach, a region beleaguered by drought, a dam that has dried a riverbed, and a feud that spirals into violence. That’s not dressing – it’s a tonal pivot. Where season 1 closed on tourneys and personal growth, season 2 looks set to lean into communal crisis, resource politics and the long shadow of the Blackfyre Rebellion. For a medieval fantasy TV show, that is quietly topical: politics meet scarcity meet the human cost of past wars.

Production timing is the other signal. Season 1 wrapped in September 2024 and premiered in January 2026 – a long post‑production window. With cameras rolling on season 2 since December 2025, HBO has mobility: they either keep that lengthy polish cadence (which suggests a spring 2027 release) or they compress and push for late‑2026 marketing. Given how tightly HBO has been managing the Game of Thrones/IP slate, I’d put my money on a measured rollout and a late‑2026 trailer.

The uncomfortable observation the PR won’t volunteer

Season 2 promises new local politics and a host of fresh characters — and yet HBO has only publicly reconfirmed its two leads. That’s normal for an anthology-ish spin where most guest roles change every season. But it also creates a repeat problem: recasting expectations, last‑minute casting leaks, and a public narrative gap that PR will fill with mood pieces instead of specifics. If you liked the texture of season 1’s supporting players, brace yourself; most of the faces on screen will be new, which makes casting announcements the real early indicator of tone and budget.

There’s another knot to untangle: The Sworn Sword features the Great Spring Sickness as recent history. Adapting a pandemic’s aftermath requires care if you want to avoid blunt metaphors. Will HBO handle it as setting and consequence, or will it be shorthand for “society struggling”? That’s a narrative decision with real resonance in 2026 audience minds — and it’s one I’d ask the showrunner about first.

What this season will likely cover (and what it won’t)

Read conservatively: expect a close adaptation of the novella’s beats — drought, the broken river and dam dispute, local lordly intrigue, and more texture on the Blackfyre Rebellion (which season 1 only teased). Don’t expect sweeping Targaryen/King’s Landing politics on the scale of the mainline Game of Thrones show. Dunk and Egg stories are intimate: big history discussed around small fires.

What to watch next — concrete signals that will matter

• Early‑2026: Casting announcements beyond Claffey and Ansell. The regions’ lords will define how faithful and how ambitious the season is.
• Late‑2026: A first trailer. Season 1’s marketing arrived ~3-4 months before premiere; expect something similar unless HBO accelerates.
• Spring 2027: The likely window for a premiere if HBO mirrors the season‑one cadence.
• Script/credits: If writers listed include veterans of political drama (or if Martin consultants are emphasized), HBO is leaning into the Blackfyre/continuity thread.

If I were sitting across from the PR rep right now I’d ask: who are the Reach’s lords in your casting, and how do you plan to show the Great Spring Sickness without flattening it into a talking point? Their answer will tell us whether this season is a careful, character‑driven pivot or a production ticking off franchise beats.

TL;DR

HBO started filming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 in December 2025 and looks set to adapt The Sworn Sword. Expect a pivot from tourneys to drought, dam disputes and the fallout of the Great Spring Sickness, with more Blackfyre context. Only Dunk and Egg are confirmed so far; watch for casting news early in 2026 and a trailer by late 2026 ahead of a possible spring 2027 premiere.