Max has greenlit a show based on George R.R. Martin’s wonderful Tales of Dunk and Egg series. What actors would fit the characters? Let’s dreamcast!
It’s official: HBO Max’s rebranded streaming service Max is moving forward with a new Game of Thrones spinoff based on George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. This story is told through the eyes of the stalwart knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg, a Targaryen prince, and takes place around 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Martin has written three of these shorter tales to date: The Hedge Knight (1998), The Sworn Sword (2003), and The Mystery Knight (2010), all of them collected in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2015).
In some ways, Dunk and Egg is the most logical Game of Thrones spinoff HBO could make, since they’re the only other real stories Martin has written in the Song of Ice and Fire universe apart from the mainline books. The only other spinoff we’ve gotten, House of the Dragon, is based on Fire & Blood, which is a “fake history” book that details the reigns of the Targaryens. Dunk and Egg has all the excitement, betrayal and politicking that made Game of Thrones so engrossing, but with an intimate focus on characters which was missing from Fire & Blood.
There are still concerns, namely that Martin hasn’t finished writing the Dunk and Egg novellas so it’s possible we may end up with another Game of Thrones situation where the show overtakes the books. Martin had previously said he was against the idea of a Dunk and Egg adaptation for this very reason, since he had plans for “seven or eight or ten” more Dunk and Egg stories.
Regardless, it seems he came around on it; Dunk and Egg was actually one of the very first spinoffs that Martin pitched to HBO, alongside a Dance of the Dragons show which eventually became House of the Dragon. Hey, maybe exploring further Dunk and Egg tales onscreen could be a way for Martin tell some of those extra stories without taking him away from The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring?
For now though, let’s just take a few minutes to dream about what A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight could look like. Who would play heroes like Ser Duncan the Tall and Baelor Breakspear? Loathsome villains like Aerion Brightflame, Lucas the Longinch, and Lord Gormon Peake?
From here on, there will be SPOILERS aplenty from all three Dunk and Egg novellas. We’ll be sticking mainly to the major players from those stories. That being said, I do hope that the show would explore some of the time between the tales. Dunk and his squire Egg spend a year and a half traveling across Dorne and sailing to Oldtown between The Hedge Knight and The Sworn Sword, having no shortage of adventures and encountering beloved characters like Maester Aemon of the Night’s Watch when he was studying at the Citadel as a young man. A similar amount of time passes between the second and third novellas. Filling in those spots could create enough episodes to fill multiple seasons. Spending more time in Dorne and Oldtown would also give the show an opportunity to address the story’s lack of diversity, which could become problematic if it sticks exclusively to Martin’s written works. (You’ll see what I mean.)
So! All that being said, let’s dive in and start dreamcasting…beginning with the main man himself.
Tom Hopper as Ser Duncan the Tall
First up, yes, Tom Hopper did have a small role on Game of Thrones as Sam’s younger brother Dickon Tarly (he was executed by Dragonfire after the Loot Train Battle, if you forgot). But his acting chops, physicality and experience with action scenes make him ideal for the role of Duncan the Tall. Watch some Black Sails or The Umbrella Academy if you don’t believe me. He’s perfect.
When we first meet Duncan the Tall (or Dunk, as he’s known to his friends), he’s burying his old mentor, the hedge knight Ser Arlan of Pennytree. Dunk is only a boy of 16 at the time, newly knighted by Ser Arlan upon his deathbed. Dunk resolves to set off for Ashford Meadow, where Lord Ashford is holding a tournament to celebrate his daughter’s thirteenth name day. Hedge knights serve as a sort of mercenary knight in Westerosi culture, swearing their sword and service to whichever lord they wish to support. Or more often, whichever one will feed and house them. Ashford represents a chance for Dunk to earn coin and possible renown for himself, and if he’s lucky, service with some lord or other who might recognize his worth.
Things don’t go the way Dunk plans at Ashford — they rarely go well in these stories. Dunk constantly recalls an old line that was used to tease him, “Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall,” internally chiding himself for being outwitted. The great irony here is that Dunk often does find clever ways to maneuver his way through situations…or at the very least, he’s able to rely on his enormous size to fight his way out when that fails. And he does get outwitted plenty as well, to be fair. Dunk is an honorable character very much in the vein of Ned Stark…except even more straightforward about it.
Hopper is excellent at playing those sorts of characters, who think they’re less smart than they actually are, and are just plain good people you want to root for. He’s physically commanding enough to pull off the role. Dunk is 6’11”, which is really closer to the size of Gregor Clegane, but at 6’5”, Hopper is no slouch. Throw in some good camera work and you’ve got someone you don’t want to mess with.
Yes, Hopper is older than Dunk is at the beginning of the novellas, but he ages as the stores go along, and Game of Thrones aged up plenty of the characters as well. Basically, Tom Hopper is Ser Duncan the Tall.
Julian Hillard as Egg
Realistically, Max will probably go with an unknown child actor to play young Aegon Targaryen, also known as Egg. He’s only 8 at the start of the series, and there aren’t many actors with impressive credits to recommend them that early in their lives.
But there are some. Julian Hillard would be a solid choice. He did a fantastic job as Billy Maximoff on Marvel’s WandaVision. He can project a precocious air as well as seem wise beyond his years. Both would be necessary to pull off a role like Egg. The young boy that offers to squire for Dunk seems unassuming at first, a scrawny boy with a shaved head and a penchant for mouthing off. It’s only later, in The Hedge Knight‘s big mid-story twist, that Egg’s true identity as a Targaryen prince is revealed. As such, he is both princely at times and…well, a raucous little kid at others.
One of my favorite aspects of Dunk and Egg is how the pair’s travels also serve as a way for Dunk — an orphan from Flea Bottom — to teach his young companion about the ways of the world, the real, gritty and unpleasant world of Westeros. Egg’s older brothers Daeron and Aerion Targaryen figure prominently into The Hedge Knight and are both basically spoiled nobles who are shaming their house in one way or another. It’s only when Dunk makes this observation to Egg’s father Maekar that the elder Targaryen caves and allows Egg to travel with Dunk the way he sees fit.
By the end of The Mystery Knight, Egg is finally growing into his own as a young Targaryen prince. So whether Max taps an actor like Hillard for the role or goes with an unknown, they’ll need to get someone with range who can develop a character over a period of time. Egg is a huge part of the comedic relief of the series, as well as crucial to some of its most thoughtful moments.
Jessica Parker Kennedy as Tanselle
Tanselle is one of the first characters Dunk meets upon his arrival at Ashford Meadow. The tourney grounds host an array of different businesses and merchants all plying trades. One of those businesses is a puppet show, and Tanselle is one of the puppeteers. She’s tall, only a head or so shorter than Dunk himself, so much that she tells him she was often teased as being “Tanselle Too-Tall.”
When Dunk is told he needs to have his shield painted with a new device (he cannot continue to use Arlan of Pennytree’s since he wasn’t his actual son), he takes the shield to Tanselle. She paints his elm-tree-and-shooting-star sigil, which is displayed so beautifully upon the cover of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
And it’s Tanselle who finds herself the target of Aerion Targaryen’s wrath when he takes the slaying of a wooden dragon in her puppet show as a treasonous act. Egg runs and retrieves Dunk, who comes to Tanselle’s rescue after Aerion has already broken one of her fingers.
Alas, this is the last time we’ve seen Tanselle in the story to date. She leaves Dunk’s shield behind, but she and the other puppeteers flee Ashford Meadow before Dunk’s subsequent trial for laying hands on one of the royal family. Nonetheless, her presence lingers over the series. Dunk often thinks of her, and it is partially a desire to search for her which drives Dunk and Egg to go adventuring off in Dorne.
Jessica Parker Kennedy is a fantastic actress with a serious ear for accents. She left a huge impression during her time as Maxine on Black Sails, where she played a whore who rose to control most of the island of Nassau. Tanselle is Dornish, and Parker Kennedy could also totally pull off the Dornish look.
All that said…the hitch is that she’s only 5’1”. As with Egg, a strong case could be made for Max going with an unknown. But if they did want to go with a known quantity, Jessica Parker Kennedy would make a great Tanselle.
Evan Peters as Aerion Targaryen
There may be no character more hateful in all the Dunk and Egg tales than Aerion Targaryen, aka Aerion Brightflame…or Aerion the Monstrous, depending on who you ask. You remember the old saying from Game of Thrones, that whenever a Targaryen is born the gods flip a coin? For Aerion, it landed on the wrong side.
Over the course of his first few appearances in The Hedge Knight, Aerion confuses Dunk with a stableboy, purposely murders an opponent’s horse during a joust, destroys Tanselle’s puppet show and nearly breaks all her fingers, and has Dunk arrested for coming to her aid. And that’s only in the first half of the story. He’s about as loathsome a Targaryen as they come, made all the worse by the glee he sometimes takes in his sadistic actions. Oh, and he’s also one of Egg’s older brothers.
Evan Peters, best known as Quicksilver in Fox’s X-Men movies, usually stars in roles with a more comedic bent to them, but I think that could actually work out in his favor as Aerion. Aerion is a conniving sort of petty evil character very much in the vein of spoiled royals like Viserys Targaryen and King Joffrey from Game of Thrones. Imagine if Peters could twist his sense of humor just enough that it becomes uncomfortable. We also know he can handle a darker sort of character as well, thanks to his Golden Globe-winning performance as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer on Netflix’s Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
Plus, he definitely has a face that look at home in a Targaryen family portrait, and we already know he can rock the silver hair.
Robert Sheehan as Daeron Targaryen
Opposite Aerion we have Daeron Targaryen. We meet Daeron in the opening pages of The Hedge Knight, but at the time he’s just a random drunken lordling at a tavern. It’s only later that we find out he’s another one of Egg’s older brothers, the one who was supposed to be minding him when he ran off to squire for Dunk.
Daeron is the proverbial slacker who will do just about anything to avoid his duty. He’s basically the Targaryen version of Paul Bettany’s character from A Knight’s Tale, minus the gambling.
Robert Sheehan plays Klaus Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy, another legendary slacker. Daeron fills a similar sort of space in The Hedge Knight, a sympathetic character you want to like except for the fact that his cowardice and dereliction of his duty puts others’ lives at risk.
Even then, he does come through and promises to aid Dunk in his trial of seven…by falling off his horse at the first glancing blow and not getting back up. As he says: “My brothers have my measure when it comes to fighting and dancing and thinking and reading books, but none of them is half my equal at lying insensible in the mud.”
Anthony Starr as Maekar Targaryen
If Aerion and Daeron have issues, it’s partly because the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Their father is Maekar Targaryen, the fourth son of King Daeron II. Maekar isn’t the hot mess that either of his elder sons are, but he’s still got issues. Namely, he’s stubborn, haughty and spoiled. When Dunk is arrested for striking Aerion Brightflame, Maekar is quick to pronounce that he should meet a grim fate. Fortunately, the call isn’t solely Maekar’s to make, but he still fights alongside his sons in the trial of seven Dunk must undergo. (A Trial of Seven is a rarely used variation of the normal trial by combat, where seven fighters fight on each side.)
Anthony Starr’s turn as Homelander in the Amazon Prime show The Boys should leave little doubt he could play an unhinged Targaryen prince. If anything, he’d have to tone back a little to play Maekar, who isn’t quite deranged, but certainly has a place in the Game of Thrones pantheon of dangerously careless nobles. He even accidentally causes the death of his own brother Baelor during Dunk’s trial. He’s a seasoned warrior who wields a heavy mace to deadly affect, but he’s also a father who despairs at how is children are turning out. Maekar is complex, and Starr can do complex all day long.
When both Aerion and Daeron shame him with their actions at Ashford Meadow, Maekar ultimately relents to Egg’s requests to squire for Dunk. Afterwards, it’s often said that he’s “sulking at Summerhall,” his castle in the Reach. While we don’t see Maekar again in the novellas after The Hedge Knight, the impact he leaves on the story is strong and persistent, due to Egg’s frequent references to his father.
Henry Cavill as Baelor “Breakspear” Targaryen
Baelor Breakspear is a character who looms large over the Dunk and Egg tales. At the time of The Hedge Knight, Baelor is second in line to the throne and serving as Hand of the King. He’s a noble and even-tempered lord. It’s only through his sense of justice that Dunk even has a chance to survive the trial, and then again through his strength of arms and cunning that Dunk and his allies are able to succeed. Baelor arrives at the crucial moment to “fill out Dunk’s team,” so to speak. He convinces Ser Duncan and the knights fighting beside them to switch to tourney lances, which gives them a crucial advantage thanks to the longer length of their longer length.
Without Baelor Breakspear, the Tales Dunk and Egg would have ended with the first novella, which makes it all the more tragic when Baelor’s allies remove his crushed helmet after the melee and half his skull comes off with it. Baelor collapses in Dunk’s arms in the most shocking scene of the entire series.
Tapping a well-known actor like Henry Cavill would make sense for Baelor. First, it would lend that character’s death the weight it deserves. Baelor is very much treated like the hope and future of the realm in The Hedge Knight, which is why it’s so soul-crushing when he’s abruptly killed off in a twist that’s right up there beside Ned Stark’s execution. Cavill has a huge presence and plenty of experience playing people who are both heroic and stoic — think Superman with a bit of Geralt of Rivia sprinkled in. He also wouldn’t even need to wear a Targaryen wig, since Baelor inherited the dark hair and eyes of his Dornish mother.
Sean Maguire as Ser Steffon Fossoway
Ser Steffon Fossoway is one of the first knights Dunk and Egg meet. He’s also one of the more deceptively despicable ones. Steffon begins as a seeming friend, inviting Dunk to spar with him and then later offering to go and recruit other knights to fight by Ser Duncan’s side during the Trial of Seven.
But when Steffon shows up the morning of the battle, he hasn’t brought anyone else to help Dunk. Worse, he turns his cloak, helping Aerion Targaryen in exchange for a lordship.
Among other roles, Sean Maguire played the Dark King on The Magicians, a character with uncertain loyalties, like Steffon. Maguire is good at acting likable and charming, but also gives the impression that he could flip at a moment’s notice, which is important for this role.
Steffon’s betrayal is classic Song of Ice and Fire stuff, right down to the spiteful words he hurls at Dunk and his own cousin Raymun Fossoway. Speaking of…
John Bell as Raymun Fossoway
One of the coolest things about the Dunk and Egg stories is how George R.R. Martin uses them to fill out some of the unknown bits of Westeros’ past. This is the case with the Fossoways, whose sigil is an apple. In A Song of Ice and Fire, there are two branches of the Fossoway family: the reds and the greens. The Hedge Knight explains the origins of that split, as after Steffon Fossoway betrays Dunk and sides against him in the Trial of Seven, Steffon’s squire / cousin Raymun asks to be knighted to fight by Dunk’s side. Afterward, he hastily repaints his shield, adopting the green apple for his sigil and beginning a new branch of the Fossoway line.
Raymun is a likable sort of fellow, young and awkward but also earnest. Like Steffon, he’s friendly with Dunk during the tournament at Ashford Meadow, and unlike his cousin, he actually does bring several other knights to help in Dunk’s trial. He’s never seen in the series again, but he’s a pretty vital part of The Hedge Knight.
John Bell is best known for his time on Outlander as Young Ian, Jaime Frasier’s nephew. He radiates earnestness, and has the acting chops to sell comedic and heartfelt moments alike. I can easily imagine him as Raymun acting as the quiet voice of reason in the face of Steffon’s arrogance. It seems like exactly the sort of material Bell would knock out of the park.
Karl Urban as Lord Lyonel Baratheon
Lyonel Baratheon is King Robert Baratheon’s great-grandfather, which should tell you a lot about him. Lyonel is a lot like Robert in terms of temperament and martial prowess. He was known as “the Laughing Storm” because he often laughed at his opponents during combat, just on account of how much fun he was having.
Lyonel plays a relatively minor part in The Hedge Knight, but it’s a credit to how memorable the character is that he still leaves an impression. When it seems Dunk won’t have enough comrades to fight at his side in the Trial of Seven, Lyonel is one of the warriors who comes to his aid, both because Egg asked it of him, and because he “wasn’t about to miss a chance to fight the Kingsguard knights and tweak Prince Maekar’s nose in the process.”
Karl Urban would be a perfect fit for Lyonel Baratheon. Urban is a veteran actor, but has really risen to prominence of late as Billy Butcher on The Boys, a character who has the exact sort of raucousness as Lyonel. Watching Karl Urban deliver that line about Maekar would be a hoot to watch, and there’s really no doubt that Urban would be a really solid addition to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. As far as his features, he could totally pass as a member of Robert Baratheon’s family. He’s also a stellar actor who can basically pull off any role thrown at him, but he’s especially great at warriors with a sense of humor, which is pretty much Lyonel to a T.
David Strathairn as Lord Eustace Osgrey
Moving on from The Hedge Knight, we arrive at our first characters from the second Dunk and Egg novella, The Sworn Sword. And where better to start than with the lord who Dunk has sworn his sword to: Eustace Osgrey.
Eustace is a lonely old man living out his days in the crumbling tower of Standfast. Once, his house was proud and prosperous, but after Eustace’s ancestors spoke out in support of the Faith Militant, the Targaryens stripped them of their traditional home of Coldmoat. It only got worse when Eustace sided against the Crown during the Blackfyre Rebellion. He was forgiven for that, but lost both his sons, his wife, and his daughter as a result.
Of course, Dunk doesn’t know all this at the start of The Sworn Sword. Eustace leads him on a bit of a charade, claiming that a river that was dammed up by the lady who now owns Coldmoat was actually his water, despite the fact that the Targaryens had seized this part of the Osgrey’s land to reward their more loyal subjects.
Eustace Osgrey is deceptive but endearing, and David Strathairn would be a fantastic fit. Strathairn’s stint as Klaes Ashford on The Expanse showed that he can act both charismatic and dangerous, depending on what the moment calls for. He’s in the right age range for Eustace and would probably look good sporting the sort of “drooping mustaches” Eustace is described as having. He would have to act a bit more senile than in any roles I’ve seen him in thus far — Eustace has a habit of mixing up names and memories, living in the past — but given how versatile of an actor Strathairn is, I’m betting that would be something he could handle easily.
Steven Ogg as Ser Bennis of the Brown Shield
Serving alongside Dunk at Standfast is another hedge knight: Ser Bennis of the Brown Shield. Bennis is pretty much the opposite of Dunk in every way: he’s a cruel realist who is just as comfortable abandoning a cause as he is defending it, so long as he ends up saving his own skin. He’s crass, rude and avoids bathing at all costs.
What’s more, he’s one of the few characters in the novellas who actually knew Dunk from the time before Ashford Meadow, when our hero was still serving as a squire for Ser Arlan of Pennytree. Bennis was cruel even then, and had a habit of pinching Dunk when his master wasn’t looking, an obnoxious trait he repeats with both Egg and the conscripted townsfolk he’s trying to train to defend Standfast.
Bennis is the cause of a lot of the trouble in The Sworn Sword. When he and Dunk discover that Old Lord Eustace’s neighbor, a Lady nicknamed the Red Widow, has dammed off their stream in the middle of a drought, Bennis takes it upon himself to slice open the face of one of the workers as a “lesson.” He’s petty and evil in typical Song of Ice and Fire fashion, except he’s sworn to the same side as Dunk, which complicates things.
In short, Ser Bennis of the Brown Shield is exactly the sort of sadistic, crazy character that Steven Ogg excels at playing. Ogg’s two best-known characters, Simon in The Walking Dead and Trevor in Grand Theft Auto V, are right in that wheelhouse, so we know he could handle this role. He’s one of those actors who’s great at playing characters you love to hate, and Bennis of the Brown Shield is definitely that. Even when he’s a “good guy,” he’s still awful.
Bennis escapes at the end of The Sworn Sword, setting up an eventual confrontation between him and Dunk as a possible long-game moment for the series. Which means Steven Ogg could come back.
Emily Browning as Lady Rohanne Webber
We spend the first half of The Sworn Sword hearing about how horrible Lady Rohanne is and how she poisoned all four of her previous husbands, but when we actually meet her on the page we find she’s…just a regular person. She’s a hard ruler to be sure, and keeps a firm grip on her castle of Coldmoat, but she’s nowhere near the scheming poisoner that the rumors make her out to be.
In fact, I’d even go so far as to say Rohanne might be one of the more sympathetic characters in The Sworn Sword, a story that is chock full of liars and traitors. Rohanne, it turns out, has the legal right to dam Old Ser Eustace’s river because it’s actually her river, gifted to her family because her father stayed loyal during the Blackfyre Rebellion while Ser Eustace Osgrey fought for the rebels. The catch is that unless she is married and produces a male heir, the land will pass back to the crown, and both Osgrey and she will be left in a much worse position. Things are further complicated by the fact that Coldmoat’s castellan, Lucas Inchfield, is intent on marrying her himself and scares away any suitors.
Rohanne is a short yet commanding woman, an excellent archer and horsewoman who shows up to the story’s climax decked out in a full suit of enameled plate. In short, she takes no nonsense.
Emily Browning fits the bill here in just about every way. She’s sleight of build and height, but there’s no doubt that when she’s on screen as Laura Moon in American Gods, she commands the scene. Plus, we know from some of that show’s flashbacks that she can pull off red hair, which would be key since one of Rohanne’s most recognizable features is her calf-length red braid.
Anthony Bishop as Ser Lucas Inchfield
Lucas Inchfield, better known as the Longinch, is the castellan of Coldmoat and a pretty miserable human being. In the first moment we meet hi, he’s threatening Dunk and doing his best to humiliate him in front of the entire population of Coldmoat castle. It’s only later we find out that he’s basically holding the castle hostage: Lady Rohanne’s father invested him with power as castellan and charged him to scare off unsuitable bachelors from courting Rohanne, which Lucas has taken to mean all bachelors. Save himself, of course. He makes no secret of his desire to marry Lady Rohanne and seize true control of Coldmoat.
The Longinch is a physically imposing man…next to anyone but Dunk. He’s a little shorter than our hero, which further inflames him against Dunk and his quest to make peace between Coldmoat and Standfast. The two end up engaging in one of Dunk and Egg‘s more brutal battles: a trial by combat in the middle of the stream separating the Osgrey and Webber lands.
Dunk described Lucas Longinch as “ugly, with a broad nose, thick lips, crooked yellow teeth, and protruding eyes.” He’s the kind of guy who will never do anything unless he thinks it will gain him something.
Anthony Bishop is a lesser known actor, but his brief stint as Mr. Singleton in the premiere of Black Sails leaves little doubt that he could pull off a role like Inchfield. He’s got an intimidating presence that would work well in the fight scenes, and his tone of voice can drip with condescension. His build would make him a formidable opponent for Dunk, who rarely has to face a foe near his own size. And since he’s another one of those characters we love to hate, Bishop would have plenty of material to really twist the knife into our collective heart before the fateful trial by combat.
Nick Frost as Septon Sefton
Stefon Staunton, better known as Septon Sefton, is one of the main comedic relief characters in The Sworn Sword. He was the brother of Lady Rohanne Webber’s third husband, and came to Coldmoat to serve when they were married. After his brother’s death, Sefton just kind of…stuck around Coldmoat, as did many of Rohanne’s other in-laws whenever the relevant husband died.
Septon Sefton is always drinking and quick with a joke. He’s one of the first people at Coldmoat who acts kindly toward Dunk, and is beloved among fans for his affable personality, absurd-sounding nickname and frequent flatulence.
Nick Frost is a fantastic comedic actor who could totally nail the balance between constant japes and meaningful moments. He’s had a long career playing exactly those sorts of roles, from Sean of the Dead to Into the Badlands. Into the Badlands also gave him a chance to show more of his versatility — there’s much more to Frost than comedy. And he has that instant likability factor that would be crucial to playing Septon Sefton.
Hale Appleman as John the Fiddler, a.k.a. Daemon II Blackfyre
Now we move into the final Dunk and Egg novella, The Mystery Knight. This one has a pretty huge cast of characters despite being the shortest of the three stories, but we’re going to keep to a handful of the major players. And there’s no player more major than John the Fiddler, a.k.a. Daemon Blackfyre, whose shadow looms large over the wedding tourney at Whitewalls.
The Mystery Knight is a twisty tale that deals with a potential second uprising by Blackfyre loyalists, those who supported a bastard offshoot branch of the Targaryen family that tried to overthrow the Crown. Now Daemon comes to give those supporters new hope.
He’s a tricky character, to be sure. Daemon is not an evil man. In fact, he’s pretty darn sympathetic. He tries to sway Ser Duncan the Tall to his cause, claiming that he saw him in a prophetic dream just before a chance meeting on the road to Whitewalls. While Dunk isn’t swayed (he doesn’t even know Daemon’s true identity at that point), Daemon goes on to charm the pants off most people at the wedding.
Unfortunately, he’s not quite aware of the severity of the atrocities being committed on his behalf, namely the bogus arrest and torture of Ser Glendon Ball, which was done to remove him from Daemon’s path in the tourney. The heartbreaking thing about this is that Daemon immediately demands a trial by combat to discover the truth of the matter, because he just can’t believe those claiming to be loyal to him would stoop so low. He’s a person trying to do what he thinks is right while being utterly clueless about being surrounded by a bunch of traitors to the Crown who are manipulating things for their own personal gain.
Hale Appleman’s run as Elliot on The Magicians is pretty much a perfect demo-reel for this kind of role. During that show, he served as the High King of Fillory for a time, so he has the royal-in-hiding part down. He’s ridiculously charismatic, the kind of person it would be easy to imagine the masses gathering behind at the tourney at Whitewalls, which makes it all the more tragic that his cause is doomed to fail from the start, “ending with a whimper,” as George R.R. Martin puts it in his story.
Toby Stephens as Lord Gormon Peake
Gormon Peake is an interesting character in the Dunk and Egg mythos. He’s one of the main antagonists of The Mystery Knight, pulling the strings behind Daemon Blackfyre in an attempt to bring about a second Blackfyre Rebellion so he can seize more power. What makes him so interesting is his relation to Dunk. It takes Ser Duncan a while to realize it, but Gormon Peake is the same lord who killed Arlan of Pennytree’s son during the battle of the Redgrass Field. It was only because Arlan lost his son (who was also his squire) that he ended up stumbling across Dunk in Flea Bottom and taking him into his service.
So in a way, Dunk owes much to Lord Gormon Peake. Without him, he might never have made it out of Flea Bottom.
That said, Gormon is no friend to Ser Duncan the Tall, being as rude and scathing to our hedge knight hero as possible. He’s the kind of lord with a stern bearing who looks down his nose at those beneath his station. He’s also a renowned knight and warrior.
Toby Stephens is a master actor who can play pretty much any role. He could absolutely nail a casting like Gormon, who has an unyielding persona in the vein of Stannis Baratheon or Tywin Lannister. Stephens’ time on Black Sails as Captain Flint gave him a huge range to show off how he could be sympathetic when he wanted as well as downright terrifying when he had to be. Gormon is definitely closer to the latter.
Jack Quaid as Ser Glendon Ball
In a story filled with backstabbing, Ser Glendon Ball stands out as one of the most straightforward people in The Mystery Knight. And as we should know to expect from Martin by now, that means he’s mistreated.
Ser Glendon claims to be the son of Fireball, a renowned hero who fought for the Blackfyres during the first rebellion. The truth is a little more murky: Glendon is the son of a prostitute who slept not only with Fireball, but also a ton of other people just before the fateful battle at the Redgrass Field, where the Blackfyre Rebellion was put down. She concocted the idea that Glendon was Fireball’s offspring in order to give her son more pride in his lineage. There’s no way to prove it though…or disprove it.
The lords at the wedding mock Glendon for this for pretty much the duration of the Whitewalls tourney. They even go so far as to have him announced as “the Knight of the Pussywillows,” thanks to a rumor that he supposedly traded his sister’s virginity so he could be knighted outside the whorehouse where he was raised, beneath a stand of pussywillow trees.
The one thing that is not up for debate, however, is Glendon Ball’s martial prowess. He quickly becomes one of the rising stars of the Whitewalls tourney, unhorsing knight after knight in the joust. He does so well that Gormon Peake offers to buy him off so that Daemon can win the joust (and claim the dragon egg that is being given as a prize). Glendon refuses, which leads him to being framed for theft and tortured. Yet when Daemon announces there will be a trial by joust, Glendon still climbs into the saddle despite his grievous wounds and manages to win.
The great irony here is that Glendon Ball would have fought for Daemon Blackfyre gladly, but he wouldn’t lose for him, as he says in The Mystery Knight. Glendon is a bitter, angry young knight with something to prove.
And that sounds exactly like the sort of thing Jack Quaid could pull off really well. The Boys star is great at playing conflicted characters like Glendon. Constantly mocked by others, he nonetheless grits his teeth and swears to show them what he’s made of.
Quaid has the look for Glendon, and the chops to play this complex character who ends up befriending Dunk as one of the only other “true knights” at the tourney.
Michael Fassbender as Bloodraven
Brynden Rivers, better known is Bloodraven, is perhaps the most iconic Song of Ice and Fire character to appear in the Tales of Dunk and Egg. A bastard-born Targaryen legitimized upon the death of King Aegon IV, Bloodraven rises to become Hand of the King and holds most of the power in the realm by the time of The Mystery Knight. Believed to be a sorcerer, he’s described as a pale, thin man with bone-white hair and a raven-shaped birthmark on his cheek. He has a vast network of spies and only has one eye — he lost the other during the Battle of the Redgrass Field. People have taken to saying that Bloodraven has “a thousand eyes and one.”
Technically, Bloodraven appeared on Game of Thrones. Remember the Three-Eyed Raven, the old man Bran trained with before he gained his powers? Although the show doesn’t drop as many hints as the books, it’s believed that this is Bloodraven around a century later. So those claims of sorcery might not actually be too far off.
For all that, Bloodraven only appears briefly in The Mystery Knight, bringing in an army at the end of the story to put down the second Blackfyre Rebellion. (Although fans believe he’s also in disguise as hedge knight Ser Maynard Plumm.)
Bloodraven is half-brother to Egg’s grandfather Daeron. During their brief scene together, he and Egg have a great back and forth. For how mysterious he is, he also jokes about how Dunk needs to better discipline his squire. It’s these human moments that make Bloodraven so fascinating — he is one of the most intense figures of Westerosi history, but enough of his personality slips through in his handful of scenes that you can’t help but want to know more.
Michael Fassbender really needs no introduction. He exudes exactly the kind of magnetism Bloodraven needs. He’s played all sorts of roles, but is perhaps most famous for playing Magneto in the First Class round of X-Men films. Fassbender absolutely steals any scene he’s in, which means he’ll make the most of his brief time onscreen as Bloodraven.
And that concludes our dreamcast! It’ll be a while yet before we get anything like a casting announcement for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, but since the show is officially on the way it’s safe to get hyped. Who do you want to see play these iconic roles? Let us know in the comments!
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