Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a struggling actor with anger management issues and Peter Claffey as a six-foot-something hedge knight who can barely afford a horse. On paper, these two new series from the biggest franchises in entertainment—Marvel and Game of Thrones—should not have worked. One is a superhero show where the hero spends more time bombing auditions than fighting crime. The other is a fantasy prequel where the biggest action scene involves a punch and a muddy wrestling match.
But both Wonder Man and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms just made the same smart decision. They ignored the rulebook. And right now, that one choice is making all the difference.
The “Small Story” Gamble That Paid Off Big
When Marvel Studios first started developing Wonder Man, the pitch could have gone in a hundred different directions. Simon Williams in the comics has been an Avenger, a business tycoon, and a character with ionic energy powers that make him a genuine heavyweight in fight scenes. But according to Brad Winderbaum, who oversees Marvel’s television projects, the creative team asked a different question. What if his powers were the problem instead of the solution?
That shift changed everything. Instead of building another origin story about learning to control abilities, the show became about a guy in Los Angeles named Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who just wants to act but cannot because superpowered people are banned from performing on screen. His abilities are not an asset. They are an impediment to doing what he loves.
Across the Atlantic, the team behind A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms made a similar calculation. Based on George R.R. Martin‘s Dunk and Egg novellas, this was never going to be House of the Dragon. There are no dragons here. The largest set piece in the first season involves a Trial by Seven that looks less like a choreographed battle and more like desperate people scrambling in the mud.
Ira Parker, the series creator, understood the assignment. He told Entertainment Weekly that the show tries to stay compartmentalized. Every season, Dunk and Egg go somewhere new, a story gets told, and it closes out. No universe-building. No dangling threads that require watching six other shows.
Both series took the same bet. Make it about people first. Make the stakes personal. Trust the audience to care about characters instead of cameos.
The Critical Reception Proves the Point
The numbers do not lie. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms secured the highest IMDb rating for any TV series following its fifth episode. That episode contained the moments that actually matter—Dunk burying Ser Arlan in the rain, choosing integrity over a fixed tournament win, and throwing a punch at Prince Aerion for hurting a puppeteer named Tanselle.
The New York Times gave the season a strong 80 critic score, noting that the show does not match the scale of the series it spun off from. But that is the point. It offers a close-focus look at the little people, even if one of them happens to be enormous.
Over on the Marvel side, Wonder Man posted around 90% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with a Metacritic score in the mid-70s. Critics praised its willingness to step outside the familiar formula. The New York Times called it consistently charming, especially when Abdul-Mateen and Kingsley share scenes together. The review noted that the show plays against expectations, keeping things quiet and low-key in a genre that usually demands high stakes.
What Makes the Characters Stick
Both shows succeed because they built characters audiences recognize. Dunk is not a born hero. When the series starts, he buries Ser Arlan—the only father figure he ever had—and suddenly finds himself wearing borrowed armor with nothing but self-doubt to keep him company. He is a man who has to convince himself he belongs at a tournament where lords treat him like dirt.
The moment that defines him comes early. When offered a fixed win to help Lord Ashford‘s wallet, Dunk says no. It would have been easy to take the gold and buy a decent horse. But he chooses integrity over comfort, proving he is already a better knight than half the nobles in the Seven Kingdoms.
Simon Williams in Wonder Man faces a different kind of struggle. He wants to act. That is literally all he wants. But his powers keep getting in the way. Abdul-Mateen told the New York Times that he wanted to play a guy who can drink a glass of water—meaning a real person. He treated the character like someone with anger management issues, not a god learning to throw punches.
The friendship at the heart of the show forms between Simon and Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley). Trevor is the disgraced actor from Iron Man 3 who now serves as both mentor and cautionary tale. The writers’ room operated on a simple mantra. What if FX was going to make a Marvel show?
The One Decision That Changed Everything
Here is the common thread. Both productions actively rejected the formulas that made their parent franchises successful.
For Wonder Man, that meant ignoring the usual superhero checklist. Andrew Guest, the showrunner, turned in a first draft full of people talking about acting. Nobody at Marvel asked where the villain was in the third act. They wanted it to feel different. The budget came in low—one of the lowest Marvel has worked with in television. And the connections to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe are almost nonexistent. A few characters pop up, but Guest said he never asked whether the Hulk could show up. The show should not require homework.
For A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, that meant resisting the urge to tie everything back to the larger Game of Thrones mythology. George R.R. Martin himself praised the casting as a home run and noted that Ira Parker shares his priorities—staying true to the characters. The showrunner confirmed that while a thread involving Prince Maekar will get addressed later, they are trying to keep things compartmentalized. No ripple effects that change the nature of the story.
The Release Strategy Differences
Both shows took different paths to audiences, but the core product remained intact.
Wonder Man dropped all eight episodes at once on Disney+ on January 28, 2026. The binge model suits a show that functions more like a character study than a weekly event. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II leads the cast, with Ben Kingsley providing scene-stealing support. The soundtrack, featuring an original score by Joel P West, arrived on digital platforms two days later.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms took the weekly route on HBO, with its six-episode first season concluding on February 22, 2026. The finale left some threads dangling—specifically Prince Maekar discovering his son fled against royal orders—but Parker assured fans this will get addressed in season two without derailing the next adaptation, The Sworn Sword. The show is already in production for a 2027 return, with Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell set to reprise their roles.
What Makes a Hero Worth Watching
Both shows understand something fundamental about storytelling. Heroes are not interesting because they can punch through walls or command armies. They are interesting because of the choices they make when punching is not an option.
In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the most powerful moment involves Dunk face down in the dirt during the Trial by Seven. He hears Egg‘s voice telling him to get up. No magic saves him. No dragon arrives. Just pure, stubborn grit. The realization hits that Dunk‘s greatest strength is not his reach but his refusal to stay down.
Then there is Baelor Breakspear‘s death. He was the best of them—the leader Westeros actually deserved—and he died protecting a hedge knight. Watching Dunk carry the guilt of surviving while a dragon falls hits harder than any battle sequence. Every act of heroism has a price. Sometimes the best people are the ones who pay it.
Wonder Man finds its heart in smaller moments. Simon navigating humiliating auditions. Trevor trying to mentor someone despite being a walking disaster. The show asks a quieter question. What happens when heroism becomes just another audition?
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The Future Looks Different Now
Both shows have secured their futures by sticking to their guns. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms received a season two renewal before the first season even premiered. Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, confirmed the show will return in 2027 with annual releases planned. The plan involves adapting all three Dunk and Egg novellas, with Parker already discussing a long-term ending with George R.R. Martin.
Wonder Man faces a more uncertain path. Brad Winderbaum told the New York Times that another season depends on pulling big numbers on Disney+. But Andrew Guest already has thoughts about where a second season could go. The final episode ends on something of a cliffhanger, suggesting the creative team built with continuity in mind even if the studio is waiting to see performance.
Regardless of what comes next, the people who made Wonder Man feel good about what they built. Ben Kingsley recalled his speech to the cast and crew at the end of production. He told them they had been allowed to present something uncategorizable—unique, fresh, bold, and touching. Nothing got compromised in the edit. It is exactly what everyone wanted it to be.
That is the rarest thing in franchise entertainment right now. A show that looks and feels exactly like the people who made it intended. No committee notes. No forced connections. Just characters trying to figure things out.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is available to stream on HBO Max in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, with new episodes having dropped every Monday. Wonder Man is streaming now on Disney+.
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