Meet "man mountain" Peter Claffey, the star of HBO's new Game of Thrones prequel show

We've known for a while that HBO was working on a Game of Thrones prequel show called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, based on the Dunk and Egg novellas by George R.R. Martin. Set decades before Game of Thrones (and decades after House of the Dragon), these novellas follow the adventures of the enormous knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his diminutive squire Aegon V Targaryen, aka Egg, as they travel the Seven Kingdoms. Generally speaking, they're lighter in tone then either Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series or his book Fire & Blood, although they still have plenty of adventure, action, drama and romance. Game of Thrones fans should feel at home.

Egg will be played by child actor Dexter Sol Ansell while Dunk will be played by Irish actor and former rugby player Peter Claffey.

One of the distinguishing features about Dunk is that he's very tall, nearly seven feet. Martin has a habit of writing very tall characters into his works; see also Gregor "the Mountain" Clegane and Hodor, both of whom are around Dunk's height. Finding actors to fill these rolls can be tricky. According to his profile page on It's Rugby, Peter Claffey is 1.96 meters tall, or just over 6'4". It puts his weight at 119 kilograms, which is 262 pounds. That may not be seven feet tall, but he's a big dude. That should work for Dunk.

You can check out some of Claffey's work here, which is from the British comedy horror show Wreck. In this clip, Claffey's character Comac is trapped in a room on a cruise ship and feeling cooped up. He also happens to be in his underwear, putting on display what a huge guy he is:

We don't know exactly when A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight will premiere, but the first season will very likely be out sometime in 2025. In the meantime, HBO's first Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, will kick off its second season on HBO and Max on June 16.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.