HBO boss says new Game of Thrones spin-off's battles "match" the mainline series at a "fraction of the price"

HBO drama head Francesca Orsi has heaped praise on the battle scenes in the upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – despite its budget being dwarfed by the mainline series and House of the Dragon.

"We’re doing a Game of Thrones spinoff titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms for under $10 million in episode, [which is peanuts] relative to what Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon cost episodically," Orsi told The Hollywood Reporter.

But that budget – compared to a reported amount of $15 million per episode for Game of Thrones' final season and $20 million per episode for House of the Dragon – isn't necessitating a Tyrion-style knockout to avoid showing the action on screen. To the contrary, Orsi believes it matches what we've come to expect from Westeros' brutal, grimy action sequences.

"And the battle sequences that the directors achieved match those across Game of Thrones and are a fraction of the price, so it’s a lesson for us that we need to be challenging these budgets," Orsi said.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a six-episode miniseries set to release later this year on HBO, is an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. They follow the exploits of Ser Duncan the Tall (also known as Dunk) and Prince Aegon Targaryen (or, 'Egg'), some 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones.

Writing on his blog back in January, Martin revealed that he has seen all six episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and "loved" them.

Martin added, "It’s as faithful an adaptation as a reasonable man could hope for (and you all know how incredibly reasonable I am on that particular subject)."

Dunk is set to be played by Peter Claffey, with Egg played by Dexter Sol Ansell. The rest of the cast includes Finn Bennett, Bertie Carvel, and Daniel Ings.

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