HBO's latest Game of Thrones spinoff comes in the form of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The series is different to anything in the franchise by nature. It switches out the enormous scope of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon to tell a more personal story. We follow Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), a lowly hedge knight merely trying to make his way in the world, alongside his young and sharp-witted squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell).
Claffey brings lots of wit and Irish charm and charisma to the role, perfectly portraying a man who's in way over his head, but is too proud and stubborn to back down. By the end of Episode 2, he manages to scrape together just enough gear and funds, including a custom painted shield and some armour, to take part in the tourney of Ashford Meadow. Having watched the first round, where the biggest and most esteemed houses in all of Westeros competed, he's a little daunted by stepping into the arena but determined to do his former master Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb) proud.
Watching this adaptation, it's like the characters have stepped out of George R.R. Martin's book. The casting team did an incredible job. As for whether Claffey recieved any advice from Martin, the actor recently revealed to People that the author very much "left me to my own devices." Although, Claffey "didn't really want to" seek out advice.
He went on to add that Martin's trust in him was likely born from having a hand in the casting process. "I think he was quite involved in the casting process himself, so I'm sure he probably saw the way that I wanted to do things, or the way that I was trying to do things, and he seemed to be pretty happy," he explained.
That's not to say that Claffey and Martin haven't spent a lot of time together. They've "spent hours" discussing all things geeky. "We spent a lot of time, the last time we had dinner, talking about different scenes that I loved [in the show] and stuff like that. I'm just a ginormous nerd when it comes to superheroes and fantasy," he added. "He likes talking about his creation, and I love talking about his creation."
HBO has big plans for the series, with it already being renewed for season 2, which will cover "The Sworn Sword." A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 2 is out now; check out our review as well as our in-depth book-to-screen breakdown. New episodes premiere Sundays at 10:00 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max.