SPOILER ALERT: This article contains key plot points from tonight’s first episode of HBO‘s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
HBO viewers were just formally introduced to TV’s newest odd couple.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms launched this evening as the latest contribution to George R.R. Martin‘s Game of Thrones universe, with the first episode presenting Ser Duncan the Tall (played by Peter Claffey) and Egg (child actor Dexter Sol Ansell) and explaining how a seven-foot hedge knight from King’s Landing and a young, bald-headed boy with secrets to share become the unlikeliest of best pals.
They first come in contact at a quiet inn as they travel to a jousting tourney at Ashford Meadow. Dunk, has just buried his master, the cantankerous but principled Ser Arlan of Pennytree, a hedge knight for whom he squired after leaving Westeros’ capital. Egg’s reasons for attending the event aren’t as clear, but he quickly volunteers to squire for his giant new friend, saying, “Every knight needs a squire. You look like you need one more than most.”
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So begins their comic, sometimes caustic, friendship.
In an interview with Deadline, Irish actor Claffey talked about the personal bond that he’s developed with Ansell, which began during a chemistry read. “You think you’re working with a nine-year-old and that ends very abruptly because it feels like you’re working with a seasoned 40-year-old West End actor,” he said of his younger counterpart. “He’s got such an old head on him. I was so impressed by his groundedness, professionalism and ability to take notes.”
Claffey got to know Ansell and his family during the shoot, spending time on and off the set. “We got closer and closer as the shoot went on,” said Claffey. “You do get protective of him and start to care about him a lot, but there were moments where I was more like Dunk – ‘Come on Dex, pull up your socks!’ It all really filtered into the performance.
“By the time we got to the really intense bits, twists and the emotional, dramatic bits, we knew each other so well. He’s a great kid and he’s got an amazing future ahead of him, we just have to keep him grounded.”
Ansell recalled how Claffey would spend time with his family off set, with their burgeoning relationship aiding their performances on screen. “All these things build our bonds and now we’re great friends,” he added.
On screen, Egg is the brain of the duo – later episodes will reveal exactly how he got that clever – and Dunk is the brawn. Ansell laughed as he said, “Egg knows everything. Dunk is not the smartest.”
Egg represents a complex role for a young actor, even one who has played a young Corolanius Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and had roles in British series such as The Midwich Cuckoos and Emmerdale.
Ira Parker, the head writer, showrunner and exec producer of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, encouraged him and Claffey to experiment, especially where Egg reveals truths to Dunk. “We did lots of ab-lib scenes and I got to play with some of that knowledge,” said Ansell. “In real life, [Peter is] the one teaching me all of these things.”
The series is also a landmark moment for Claffey, a former rugby player who is taking on his first major starring role.
“The difference between this show and House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones is you’re not going from Winterfell to The Wall, or checking out what’s going on in King’s Landing and then Essos,” he said. “It is you with Dunk for the entirety following his journey. That probably increased the anxiety of the whole thing, when you realize how much you’re going to be on camera and have to carry it.
“The beauty about it was having a script that Ira so amazingly wrote and George’s literature. You can have one on the script and one eye on the book – while you’re still doing justice to the book and the script, you still have so much to draw from, to build Dunk in that regard. Once you let that literature and text flow through you on screen, hopefully fans will be able to stick by this character for the entirety of his journey.”
Star power
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – which comes from author and series co-creator Martin’s Fevre River Packet Co., Ryan Condal’s Bastard Sword, Grok! Television and HBO Entertainment – also stars the likes of Sam Spruell, who plays Prince Maekar Targaryen, Daniel Ings (Lyonel Baratheon), Tanzyn Crawford (Tanselle the Tall) and Bertie Carvel (Prince Baelor Targaryen).
Ings’ Lyonel plays the swashbuckling heir to Storm’s End, known to the smallfolk of Westeros as The Laughing Storm. At Ashford Meadow, he quickly forms an unlikely kinship with Dunk and demands the lumbering, clunky knight join in with festivities. This leads to a dance and a drunken late-night talk in which the lord urges Dunk to partake in the jousting competition, even if he has no chance of winning. “It is a great honor to test oneself against a worthy foe,” he says.
Ings told Deadline of his enjoyment playing the loose cannon Lyonel, whose seeming nihilism masks a more soulful core.
“They described him as Jack Sparrow meets Earnest Hemingway in the brief when I first read the scripts,” said Ings. “That gave a sense of a swashbuckling, fun character and also someone who is a little battle-hardened and weary – someone who only comes alive in the fight. He’s like an adrenaline junkie. It’s always fun to play a character pulling at those extremes.”