Costume Design in HBO’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”: Lorna Ó Ríordáin’s Approach to Fantasy on a Limited Budget

HBO’s six-episode spin-off “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is set between “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon.” Each 42-minute episode follows lowborn knight Ser Duncan “Dunk” (Peter Claffey) and his squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) during a crowded tournament. The production demanded a fresh visual language while operating on a modest budget for a period fantasy series.

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Costume designer Lorna Ó Ríordáin, an Emmy-nominated veteran of “Peaky Blinders,” “Normal People,” and “Treasure Island,” led the wardrobe. She worked with armorer Simon Brindle to develop functional armor. The main characters—Dunk, Egg, Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett), and Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings)—provided distinct visual cues that guided the design.

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Ó Ríordáin said she first identified the story’s essential visual elements and then reverse-engineered the budget, choosing what could be afforded. She treated each armor piece as a costume sketch, then refined it for head movement, shoulder articulation, and the differing needs of stunt riders versus actors. The team produced an extensive inventory of garments for the tournament crowd, a quantity she described as “lost count,” and managed it as if “running a battlefield.”

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The series shows that focused storytelling and pragmatic costume design can create a distinctive fantasy aesthetic without the resources of a high-budget epic. By aligning costume complexity with character arcs—Dunk’s simple garb, Aerion’s ostentatious helm, Egg’s evolving travel wear—the visual narrative reinforces each protagonist’s journey while demonstrating that high-quality period fantasy is feasible on constrained budgets. The result was a cohesive visual identity that resonated with audiences and critics.

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• “I didn’t know if it would be suitable for me, to be honest,” — Lorna Ó Ríordáin, Costume Designer

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• “Once I read the treatment — and I was aware of ‘Game of Thrones’ and the beautiful craft of it — I thought, OK, I think I could do something with this. The stories are really engaging. It was inspiring. The characters were strong, and that’s the bottom line: If you feel like you can bring something to a character, help them express themselves in a visual way, that’s what gets you involved.” — Lorna Ó Ríordáin, Costume Designer

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• “He would be vain enough to have his own face,” — Lorna Ó Ríordáin, Costume Designer

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• “I’ve got a great team of people that can manage that like running a battlefield.” — Lorna Ó Ríordáin, Costume Designer

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