First look at yet another Game of Thrones spin-off as new series starts filming

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

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With season two of House of the Dragon now here, Game of Thrones fans will be thrilled to hear that yet another spin-off series has started filming in Belfast.

News of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’s production arrived as HBO announced five additions to the cast.

Finn Barnett (True Detective: Night Country) is set to play Aerion Targaryan, the cruel and arrogant son of the stern Maekar Targaryan, who is being portrayed by Sam Spruell (Fargo), an actor well-known for his villainous roles.

Another actor bringing a Valyrian royal to life is Bertie Carvel (The Crown) as Baelor Targaryan, the charismatic brother of Spruell's Maekor.

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Ser Lyonal Baratheon's charming character will be brought to life by Daniel Ings (The Gentleman), while Tanzyn Crawford will be Tanselle, a Dornish puppeteer.

The series will tell the “Dunk and Egg stories”, with the first season adapted from George RR Martin's first novella of the tales, The Hedge Knight.

They follow the journey of Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his young squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), as they travel to compete in a tournament.

Written by Martin and House of the Dragon’s Ira Parker, the series will be set 100 years before Game of Thrones and 100 years after House of the Dragon, forming a neat sandwich of the blood and gore viewers have come to know and love.

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This comes a week after George, 75, unexpectedly announced that a pilot episode for another spin-off, Ten Thousand Ships, is in development at HBO despite it being shut down three years ago.

Ten Thousand Ships is set before all other series, and will follow Princess Nymeria, the ancestor of Pedro Pascal's Oberyn Martell, and her journey to and unification of the Dornish provinces.

American writer Eboni Booth, who Martin heralded as "an amazingly talented young playwright" on his blog, is working on the pilot, with the cast yet to be announced.

The official log-line of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is: "A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends."