When A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms wrapped its first season in February, it left fans with a lot to chew on. After six episodes set entirely around the tournament at Ashford Meadow, the finale saw Dunk agree to take young Egg on as his squire. Egg told Dunk his father Prince Maekar had given them his blessing, though he actually hadn't.
The season closed with a quietly beautiful image of Dunk and Egg riding off together toward Dorne, accompanied for a brief moment by the ghost of Ser Arlan before he turned away down a different path.
Season 2 will adapt “The Sworn Sword,” the second of George R.R. Martin's Dunk and Egg novellas which picks up roughly a year and a half later with the pair in service to a landed knight named Ser Eustace Osgrey in the Reach, where they get caught up in a bitter dispute between feuding noble houses during a severe drought.
Dexter Sol Ansell is ready for fans to see more action in AKOTSK season 2
Production on season 2 is already well underway. Speaking from his hotel room on location, Dexter Sol Ansell, who plays Egg in the show, sat down with Awards Buzz for an interview where he revealed season 2 looks set to push his character further. When asked what he's most excited for fans to see, Sol Ansell’s answer was immediate: "The action. I've got a bit more action, and I'm really excited for everyone to see it."
That tracks with where the character is headed. In “The Sworn Sword,” Egg's royal identity becomes more central to the plot forcing Dunk into difficult choices about loyalty as they deal with a conflict that goes deeper than a simple land dispute.
It's a harder, messier story than season 1, and Sol Ansell has been putting in the work to match it. He confirmed he's been training with the show's stunt and choreography teams, describing them simply as "absolutely amazing."
Season 2 will be expanding the canvas for the story. Lucy Boynton joins as Rohanne Webber, known as the Red Widow, alongside Peter Mullan as Ser Eustace Osgrey and Babou Ceesay as Ser Bennis of the Brown Shield. Rohanne is a formidable figure. Her final marriage, much later in her life, will eventually make her the great-grandmother of Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion Lannister, just as Egg himself is the great-grandfather of Daenerys Targaryen.
The show is still telling a small intimate story, but the bloodlines it's tracing run all the way to Game of Thrones.
Growing up on a big set
Sol Ansell was candid about what the show has done for him as a performer. He credits both the scale of the production and the people around him for pushing his craft further than he expected. "It's really helped me act, I think, better than it was at the beginning," he said. "It was a great experience."
He has also found unexpected range in the role itself. "Egg, he's very diverse. He's a bit comedy-ish, he sings a little bit," he said. "When it all came to me, it was so good to finally get all of that and figure out where I actually am as an actor."
Off-screen, the bond between him and co-star Peter Claffey is easy to see. The two are self-described best friends who spent downtime on set playing chess, and weekends at the arcade playing Mario Kart. Sol Ansell claims the edge at both.
One message to Egg from Dexter Sol Ansell
In one of the more thought provoking moments of the conversation, Sol Ansell was asked what he'd say to Egg if he could speak to him directly. He paused, then said: "Be careful at Summerhall."
It makes the most sense for anyone familiar with Westerosi lore. The tragedy that eventually unfolds at Summerhall, referenced across Martin's broader world as the site of a catastrophic fire that claimed many Targaryen lives, sits at the far end of Dunk and Egg's road together. Martin has said he has much more material to continue their story. Sol Ansell clearly knows where it all eventually leads.
But he followed that warning with something warmer. He'd also tell Egg, he said, to "always be grateful for Dunk, and really appreciate Dunk. He's done so much for him." This gets at why the show works. By the end of season 1, the relationship between the hedge knight and his runaway royal squire had grown into something genuinely sweet.
If Sol Ansell’s excitement about season 2 is anything to go by, that bond is about to be tested in ways fans won't see coming.
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