The first installment of the "Game of Thrones" prequel series - "The House of Dragons," of course - will soon return to screens in June (full episode release schedule here) And now there's a big move in the second spin-off series, "Knights of the Seven Kingdoms: Hedge Knight," where the two most important characters have just been cast

Based on George RR Martin's "Tales of Dunk and Eggs" trilogy, "Hedge Knight" will take place nearly 100 years before the fantasy book series "A Song of Fire and Ice," which inspired "Game of Thrones" and "House of Dragons," according to HBO's official description, Set in the time between "HOTD" and "GOT," the story centers on two unlikely heroes wandering Westeros, "a young, naïve but brave knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg"

Sir Duncan is played by Peter Claffey, whom TV fans will recognize from the Apple TV Plus show "Bad Sisters" and the BBC Three horror comedy "Wrecked" Joining Claffey is Dexter Sol Ansell as Aegon "Egg" Targaryen, a British child actor who most recently appeared in the "Hunger Games" prequel film "The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" [Martin released "The Hedge Knight" in 1998, "The Sworn Sword" in 2003, and "The Mystery Knight" in 2010

"The pilot script is already written and I think it's great," Martin said on his blog in April 2023

"The script was written by Ira Parker, who is no stranger to Westeros He was part of Ryan Condal's writing staff on the first season of "House Of The Dragon" and wrote the fourth episode, "King Of The Narrow Sea"

And while the title "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight" is a bit long and serpentine, Martin stressed that this prequel would not be known simply as "Dunk & Egg"

"Whether that will be the final title, I can't say for sure It won't be called 'TALES OF DUNK & EGG' or 'THE ADVENTURES OF DUNK & EGG' or 'DUNK & EGG' or anything like that I love Dunk & Egg, and I know that fans call my novel The Story of Dunk & Egg ' Without knowing the characters, DUNK & EGG sounds like a sitcom Laverne & Shirley Abbott & Costello Beavis & Butthead So, no We want 'knight' in our titles Chivalry and chivalry are central to the theme of these stories"

Tom's Guide will keep you up to date with news on "Game of Thrones" related projects currently in development by HBO, including a prequel to "Hedge Knight" and a release date for a spin-off In the meantime, Westeros fans can revisit both "Game of Thrones" and "House of Dragons" by streaming the fantasy series on their Max subscriptions