A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 4 featured a pivotal moment for Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), and the behind-the-scenes story makes it even better. Episode 4 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, "Seven", saw Duncan the Tall, a.k.a. Dunk, facing his Trial of the Seven in defending his actions against the sadistic Prince Aerion Targaryen. In a climactic moment, Dunk gives a speech to the knights in attendance, asking someone to stand with him in the battle.
Speaking with the Official Game of Thrones Podcast, the episode's director, Sarah Adina Smith, described the filming of the scene as "f**king great." Smith gave much of the praise for the scene to Claffey and his performance. She explained that, while watching one particular moment of Claffey delivering the speech, she reflected to someone else on the production team, "I think I just witnessed the birth of a movie star."
The scene had an added challenge due to Dunk delivering his speech while on horseback. However, Smith once again praised Claffey, calling him an "awesome horseman." With Claffey's skill and confidence on horseback, it made the scene easier to film in terms of the blocking. As Smith explains, the scene was not only a pivotal one for Dunk, but also displayed Claffey's very impressive skills as the show's lead.
Why Dunk's speech is such an important moment
In the first four episodes of season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Dunk had already cemented himself as an endearing character. He stood out as a protagonist in the Game of Thrones universe for his less-than-confident, somewhat awkward demeanor. This added a lot to the show's sense of humor, while making Dunk all the more charming. However, his speech showed something deeper in Dunk.
Dunk is a knight who truly believes in the oaths of knighthood. He has a romantic view of being a knight, which can come off as naive in many cases. Throughout the previous episodes, he is increasingly exposed to the reality that not all knights are honorable and honest. He begins his speech by hanging onto the belief that there are good men still out there.
When Dunk first gives the speech, his passionate call is met with a funny moment of a knight standing and farting, leading to the audience laughing at Dunk. However, this joke proves to be a turning point. While we have seen many times that Dunk has hung his head in embarrassment and retreated, he does not do it this time.
Instead of being embarrassed, Dunk doubles down, refusing to accept that he is wrong about knights. Regardless of the fact that Prince Baelor Targaryen steps in to fight alongside him, Dunk already proved himself a hero by standing up to everyone and refusing to buy into the cynical approach of knighthood.
The season finale of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Sunday, February 22 on HBO and HBO Max.