George R.R. Martin admits new Game of Thrones spinoff star isn't as tall as his character
By Dan Selcke
Game of Thrones ended in 2019. A spinoff, House of the Dragon, premiered in 2022. And now, HBO and Max are preparing a new show set in Westeros: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, about a knight named Ser Duncan the Tall, aka Dunk and his squire Aegon V Targaryen, aka Egg. Together, the two roam around the Seven Kingdoms having adventures.
Recently, we learned who will play Dunk and Egg. For Egg, HBO has cast child actor Dexter Sol Ansell while Dunk will be played by Irish actor and former rugby player Peter Claffey.
As a former rugby guy, Claffey is a big dude; he's 6'4" tall and weighs 262 pounds according to his profile page on It's Rugby. But in the Dunk and Egg novellas by author George R.R. Martin, Dunk stands at a sky-scraping seven feet tall, which means Claffey is still several inches short.
Martin noted the discrepancy on his Not a Blog, but doesn't think it'll be a problem. After all, how many seven-foot tall actors are you likely to find who will also meet all the other qualifications for the role? "He’s a former professional rugby player turned actor," Martin wrote. "And he’s tall. Ok, maybe not quite as tall as Ser Duncan the Tall, but still plenty tall, and with the magic of television…His readings were terrific. I think you’re going to love him."
We'll see just how lovable he and the rest of the cast members are when A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight premieres on Max, probably sometime in 2025. The Hedge Knight, by the way, is set decades before the events of Game of Thrones but decades after the events of House of the Dragon, so don't expect to see cast members from either of those shows. While we wait, the second season of House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and Max on Sunday, June 16.
Next. GRRM. George R.R. Martin signs off on Dunk and Egg casting: "You're going to love him". dark
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