New ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Casts Lead Roles

The upcoming Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight has cast its lead actors. Peter Claffey will play Dunk while Dexter Sol Ansell will play Egg, HBO announced in a press release. The series is in production now and is slated to premiere sometime in 2025 on HBO and Max.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on a trio of novellas written by George R.R. Martin, the first of which is titled “The Hedge Knight.” These prequels are set about 90 years before Game of Thrones and follow Ser Duncan the Tall – a.k.a. Dunk – and his squire, Egg. Egg is an alias for Aegon Targaryen, a younger member of the royal family who is allowed to go out adventuring with Dunk because he is far down the line of succession. However, the audience knows that he will eventually become King Aegon V.

The casting for these two roles is immaculate and fans of the novellas are already pleased by the look of these actors on social media. Dunk is described as around 19 years old in the first novella, and is huge at about six feet, 11 inches tall. He is naïve and insecure, but kind with a strong sense of justice. Meanwhile, Egg should be about nine years old in this story, with large eyes that are purple like many other Targaryens. To help disguise his identity, he shaves his head so that others won’t recognize his silver-gold hair.

Fans are also eager to see how excited these actors are for their big roles. Claffey made a post on Instagram reading: “Truly Honoured and still in disbelief really, to be chosen to bring Ser Duncan the tall from the page to the screen. I’ve been an intense fan from the ‘Red wedding’ to ‘Battle of the Bastards’ and I’ve now fallen in love with A Knight of the seven kindgoms and Dunk the lunk himself. I’ll do everything I can to do justice to Dunk. It’s actually indescribable to get the chance to enter George R.R. Martin’s incredible world.”

These novellas tell a much more self-contained story than Martin’s novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, though they frequently make references to the wider world when relevant. They also have some heavy implications for mysteries further up in the timeline, which may be answered some day. There are only three novellas published right now, but Martin has mentioned plans to write as many as nine more when he has time. Unfortunately, that means this series runs the risk of getting ahead of its source material just like Game of Thrones.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is in production now and is expected to premiere sometime next year. House of the Dragon Season 2 will premiere on June 16 on HBO and Max. Martin’s books are available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats.