How Dunk & Egg Were Cast in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
What To Know
- Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell were cast as Ser Duncan the Tall and Egg in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms after an extensive global search.
- The series, premiering January 18, focuses on the unlikely bond between a hedge knight and a squire during a pivotal tournament, set against the backdrop of a waning Targaryen rule in Westeros.
- The show’s creator reveals casting details and how he knew Claffey and Ansell were right for the roles.
The next Brienne and Podrick and Arya and the Hound is here. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms brings back the odd couple dynamic seen throughout Game of Thrones for this prequel spinoff based on George R.R. Martin‘s novella trilogy of the same name (Season 1 adapts Tales of Dunk and Egg). Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell play the central duo. Ser Duncan the Tall is a hedge knight looking for a new nobleman to serve. Egg is the squire he didn’t ask for. Over the course of six episodes, they form an unlikely bond that reminds everyone around them what it really means to be noble.
Dunk and Egg have hearts of gold, and despite his attempts to deny it, Claffey’s character can’t help but want to keep the little guy around as he heads to a fated tournament in Ashford. Targaryens still have the Iron Throne in this series (premiering January 18 at 10/9c), but their control of the Seven Kingdoms is waning. They’re trying to improve their standing throughout the realm by attending the Ashford tournament. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is purely about the small folk of Westeros, not the nobles, but Targaryens and Baratheons, and other noble knights still influence the story. Getting the casting just right for Dunk and Egg was of the utmost importance.
Executive producer and showrunner Ira Parker previously worked on House of the Dragon. Parker tells TV Insider how and when he knew that Claffey and Ansell were right for the roles.
“Dexter, immediately,” Parker reveals. “He was number one of the very first batch that my casting directors sent me, of like 15 eggs, and Dexter Sol Ansell was right at the top. Watched the audition, nailed it. OK, great, let’s sign him up. We, of course, went through the entire process and came all the way back to him, but he’s just a phenom.”
“Peter was different,” he continues. “Look, trying to find somebody who is nearly 7-feet-tall but not a string bean, the ability to do drama and comedy, narrows your pool quite significantly. With Peter, we [went] so far to find an Irish ex-professional rugby player, who had been in Vikings and done the drama, and who had been in Bad Sisters and done the comedy. He had never been number one on a call sheet before, but our casting director told us really early on, ‘The thing about Peter is that every time he comes in, he has been exponentially better than he was the last time.’ We saw that during the process, how much he grew into the role just in front of our eyes. By the time he was coming in for the chemistry reads, he and Dexter stood next to each other. It was the easiest decision of my life.”
Steffan Hill / HBO
“They both embody a lot of the characters,” Parker adds, “and they also bring some very different sensibilities to the role that I could have never even imagined in the writing process, so we’re thrilled to have them, and it couldn’t have been anyone else.”
Parker reveals how many Dunk and Egg configurations they auditioned during the process of chemistry reads.
“In the very last chemistry read process, I think there were probably three Eggs and three Dunks that we were pairing off with each other. But we saw thousands of Dunks and thousands of Eggs, and from all around the world. It’s a few.”
“When they [Peter and Dexter] were standing next to each other there, the way they related to each other just in an unspoken physical way was they felt like they had been brothers their whole lives, that they had grown up together,” Parker notes. “That relationship has only blossomed since they’ve gotten to know each other. And we’re reaping the benefits of that right now in Season 2.”
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms scored an early Season 2 renewal before its first season debuts. Filming on the second season is already underway. Parker tells us they’ve already shot 10 days of Season 2 so far. They’re currently on a break for the Season 1 press tour, and then they’ll head back to set.
See Claffey and Ansell’s adorable bond in our “Knock Your Blocks Off” video with them above.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Series Premiere, Sunday, January 18, 10/9c, HBO, Streaming on HBO Max
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