On Thursday, October 9, at New York Comic Con, HBO’s “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (based on the “Tales of Dunk and Egg”) panel featured some gasp-worthy spoilers and on-set tea, while the heartwarming connection between Dunk and Egg’s actors was on full display.
A new era for the Seven Kingdoms
Acclaimed author and co-creator George R.R. Martin, along with co-creator and showrunner, Ira Parker, and stars Peter Claffey (Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall) and Dexter Sol Ansell (Egg) shared with the audience their journeys from ideation to auditions to getting to see the final episode completed. The only footage shown was the official trailer, but it was enough to liven up the crowd.
Both Claffey and Ansell talk about their very different reactions to getting casted in their roles. Ansell, who was definitely curated in a lab that specializes in adorable kids, was so well-spoken with palpable excitement that the audience vibed off of. But even better was the natural, sweet, sibling-like chemistry that Claffey and Ansell shared. Between making fun of each other and Claffey talking about kicking this little kid’s ass in Mario Kart, it was a delightful sneak peek at their on-screen relationship.
Claffey asserted himself as a huge “Game of Thrones” fan, remembering all of the references to Ser Duncan the Tall made by late King Joffrey and other characters. “When the casting call went out, when I got the first tape to do, I went looking at this guy [Duncan]… It’s very easy to tape and let it out into the ether, I find it quite hard to build things up, because I immediately just start panicking. But I was looking at the illustrations and stuff, and I was like, this is the first time since I started acting where this guy actually kind of looks like me. I could actually do this justice.”
Martin spoke a little about these characters that might be new to the HBO universe, but have been around for awhile. “Dunk and Egg, the Hedge Knight came to me very, very quickly, and I love that. This is one of the best things I’ve ever done. I still feel that way. Ira [Parker] and his amazing team have done an amazing job of adapting that and what you see is going to be very similar to what I wrote.”
The crowd cheered loudly for that last line, as the North remembers how contentious the ending of “Game of Thrones” was for many people.
Filling in the world of Westeros
Martin also talked about his extensive, evolving history of Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms, which grew from an initial vision of a dead dire wolf pup in the snow and how each story has grown and evolved from there.
“I’ve often talked about the two kinds of writers: the gardener and the architect. An architect would have planned the whole thing ahead of time, but I’ve never been that. I was actually writing another novel, it came to me, and it grabbed hold of me. I started writing it and then this spun off. So there’s something very exciting about that when it really does start to come alive and scenes come to you, characters come to you. They shove aside other characters,” Martin continued.
But also, he believes medieval tournaments are entertaining and exciting as hell, so why not explore that corner of this universe more?
Parker got into the rougher details of some of the challenges faced on set, including fake blood attracting wasps that Claffey mentioned earlier. “Obviously, we had the sugar blood, so we had the wasps constantly on attack, you know, just annoying all of our fighters. So it was real, the pain, the agony, the irritation, the closeness, even of your mask being on you, of the breathing, how difficult that is. As soon as you put on a helmet, it changes the way that you … breathe, and all of a sudden your heart starts going. We are going to feel every little bit of that; we are the gritty ground-up version of this world.”
Setting the stage for the future
After revealing a pretty big spoiler about Egg (book readers know, casual watchers don’t), Martin was a little more cautious about his words when talking about his favorite episode of the six-episode season. “I’m even more impressed with the final episode of the show, episode six, because the battle is over by then, and the big twist has been revealed. This sort of epilogue episode,” he said.
“Again, it was really good. All my worries were relieved. I really like what you guys did in episode six, showing the emotional resonance and setting things up for the future of these characters and what effects the battle had on them. We see a lot of fights in action films, thrillers, evil fantasies, things like that, a lot of sex. But a lot of people don’t treat what happens after.”
“Obviously, I didn’t live in the Middle Ages. I have never been in a battle like that. But I do know people who served in war, who served in Vietnam, and they still talk 20 years later about their friend who was in the platoon with them and got killed. When they think about what happened all those years later, or things that they did or saw, it has powerful effects,” Martin continued. “I like the fact that we’re getting into that, and that being said, I love the whole six episodes, and I think it’s great. I hope you guys will love it.”
WATCH: Inside the Realm of ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ with Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell
WATCH: Inside the Magic of ‘Game of Thrones’ with Ira Parker at NYCC
Set a century before “Game of Thrones,” HBO Original series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” focuses on a tighter story featuring Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg as they face dangerous exploits in Westeros, where the Targaryens still hold the Iron Throne, sans dragons. The series premieres on January 18, 2026.
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