Remember how we had to wait three years between season 1 and 2 of “Severance,” and everybody panicked? For that matter, remember when nearly two years passed between season 1 and season 2 of “House of the Dragon” and even that felt torturous? Well, I guess we’d all better get used to this sort of thing based on an announcement from HBO about its other “Game of Thrones” spin-off and its premiere date.

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“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was supposed to begin its run in 2025, but during the Upfronts presentations (per Entertainment Weekly), the premium network — which also announced it’s changing the name of its proprietary streamer back to HBO Max (one of the least surprising moves of all time) — said that “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” will now have to wait until 2026. While “House of the Dragon,” the first major “Game of Thrones” spin-off and prequel set in Westeros, wasn’t specifically mentioned, it’s easy to assume that we just won’t get any “Game of Thrones” properties on HBO or the newly rechristened HBO Max at all in 2025.

This is, without question, disappointing, particularly after season 2 of “House of the Dragon,” which adapts George R.R. Martin’s written history of the Targaryen family “Fire & Blood,” was cut down from 10 to eight episodes and finished on a rather abrupt note. Not only that, but it also speaks to a distressing small screen trend where audiences end up waiting years and years for the new season of their favorite show. (In comparison, “Game of Thrones” usually had similar technical challenges to overcome and still managed to release seasons on a relatively dependable schedule in the pre-streaming world.) 

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So, now that we have two different “Game of Thrones” properties that won’t come out until 2026, what do we need to know about them (or, rather, to remember in the case of “House of the Dragon”)?

Let’s start with “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which marks the second major “Game of Thrones” spin-off and is based on a series of novellas by George R.R. Martin about “Dunk” and “Egg” — two characters who grow up to be Ser Duncan the Tall (who runs the Kingsguard) and King Aegon V Targaryen, respectively. (Martin will truly do anything except write “The Winds of Winter,” huh?)

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Dunk is being portrayed by actor and former rugby player Peter Claffey, while Egg, who’s just Prince Aegon Targaryen at the start of this story, is being played by Dexter Sol Ansell (a younger performer who can briefly be seen as a young Coriolanus Snow in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”). Other main cast members include Finn Bennett (as Egg’s older brother, Aerion “Brightflame” Targaryen), Bertie Carvel (Prince Baelor “Breakspear” Targaryen, Egg’s uncle), and Daniel Ings (as Ser Lyonel Baratheon, the heir to his house and a fellow who’s called the “Laughing Storm” by his enemies and allies alike).

In terms of the greater franchise’s timeline, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” takes place nearly a century before the events depicted in “Game of Thrones” but well after the Dance of the Dragons that we’ll eventually see fully play out in “House of the Dragon.” (The latter is the name of the Targaryen civil war that tears the powerful family asunder.) “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” on the other hand, follows Dunk and Egg as they both grow up and accept their fates — a story that was supposed to begin in 2025, but that’s no longer happening … and I guess season 3 of “House of the Dragon” will have to wait, too.

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As for “House of the Dragon,” that spin-off began its run in 2022 and introduced us to Rhaenyra Targaryen, an ancestor of Emilia Clarke’s “Game of Thrones” character Daenerys Targaryen (as played as a teenager by Milly Alcock and as an adult by Emma D’Arcy). Though Rhaenyra’s father King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) names Rhaenyra as his heir after not having any sons, a war of succession breaks out almost immediately after the poor old guy dies in season 1, pitting Rhaenyra against her former best friend turned stepmother Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and the son Alicent had with Viserys, King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney).

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The second season of “House of the Dragon” started out pretty strong after setting up a whole bunch of conflicts in its inaugural episode, but ultimately, it ended up saving all the good action set pieces found partway through “Fire & Blood” for season 3. The episode order for the entire season was unexpectedly cut from 10 to eight, as I already mentioned, which means that episode 8 comes to a … rather abrupt end while setting up both the Battle of the Gullet and Rhaenyra’s attack on King’s Landing. Knowing that we probably have to wait even longer now to see those battles come to fruition is definitely frustrating, but there’s nothing to do besides rewatch all of “Game of Thrones” or the first two seasons of “House of the Dragon.” They’re both streaming on (HBO) Max now.

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