Stars Peter Claffey, Dexter Sol Ansell, and showrunner Ira Parker open up about casting Dunk and Egg, building their friendship, and stepping into the world of Westeros.

While at New York Comic Con last October, I had the opportunity to participate in a roundtable interview with stars Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell and showrunner Ira Parker. 

Over the 20-minute conversation, the other writers and I learned some fascinating behind-the-scenes details. Here are some of my favorite stories I learned about bringing Dunk and Egg from a novella to the big screen.

Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity. This is spoiler-free.

Ira Parker: When I landed in Santa Fe for the first time, I got a text from George that said, "Welcome to the Land of Enchantment." It made me feel so welcomed into the world of Westeros. I spent a week there, right at the very, very beginning of all this, before we even knew if we were gonna have a show. I talked to George, getting his take and his feelings on these characters, learning just how much he loves this story. 

They say when you're writing that you shouldn't try to please everybody — you should pick one person, and you should write for them. In Season 1, I did that for George. The fact that he's happy makes me very happy as well. It's been a delightful experience.

Ira Parker: Your casting director sends you big reams of all these auditions. They get thousands that they distill, and they'll send over maybe 10 in a pack, then another 10. Number one in the pack, we saw Dexter Sol Ansell. I clicked on it, watched the audition — perfect, great! I remember saying to the casting director, "Do we just sign him up? What should we do next?" 

We obviously did meet other actors and did months of these processes and chemistry reads, but we came all the way back to Dexter, and he was number one. It just felt like it had to happen.

Peter was sort of fresh to the acting world; he had just come from being a professional rugby player. I remember our casting director said, "Every single time I see him, he is just exponentially better than last time."

That was true for Peter. We brought Peter in multiple times, and every single time it became so clear to all of us that he was our Dunk. 

When we saw Peter and Dexter together for the final chemistry read, I remember sitting with our director, Owen Harris, thinking it was one of the least stressful casting decisions we've ever had to make.

Ira Parker: This is the unpolished, gritty version of Westeros. We're not raised in a castle in these beautiful, pristine halls; we're down in the dirt. We're sleeping under trees and everything that comes along with that.

The show is smaller in scope, but it's allowed us to be almost stranger than fiction in a lot of ways. To me, that means that you get the oddities and idiosyncrasies of the character's own life. It sometimes feels like you can't put that on a screen when you're telling such a big, broad story — and now we're able to get right into that. 

That's the joy of the show, and hopefully people will come along for that journey.

Dexter: We went to the arcade like every weekend, and now we've got thousands and thousands of tickets. We would bond on the weekends, go out, and have a nice Five Guys —

Dexter: I love their milkshakes. I always get Oreo Crumbs and Peanut Butter, it's the best.

Peter: We got so lucky to stay in a place next to a big arcade, a Five Guys, a Nando's, and a cinema, and we spent a lot of time together. Dexter has a lovely family, and we would work through lines together. We played a lot of chess! I won the first time, and then Dexter won every single other time.

Dexter: I was in [casting director] Lucy Bevan's office, and there were so many different Dunks, but Peter was my favorite. When I heard I got the job, it felt amazing, but then I really wanted Peter to get the job. When I heard he got it, I was like, "Yes!" because I knew he was the best.

Peter: Dexter has such charisma, and you can feel that immediately when you start reading scenes together. He brings this regal-ness and a carefree, childlike innocence that was just perfect for Egg. It's been an honor to work with him.

Dexter: The tug-of-war scene was unbelievable. It was so cool! No one was actually listening to the stunt coordinators; they were actually playing a real tug-of-war. Then I had to dangle on the rope, and we were going into the mud — that was also the first day George was there. A lot happened in that day!

Peter: My favorite scene is one I probably can't say at the moment, but it's something down the line of the series. It was something that was a huge part of the audition process, and I had to do it on horseback. 

It was sort of a sentimental scene to get done because it marked the beginning of the process. To get that done and filmed really made it feel real. When the director, Sarah [Adina Smith], and Ira were like, "Yeah, we got it," it felt great.

Dexter: They're such different people, you wouldn't think they get along. When you actually put them together, Egg is learning so many things from Dunk, and Dunk learns so much from Egg.

Peter: There's a symbiosis of knowledge and navigation through this world. It shines through even more in the first couple of episodes, when they're not fully sure who each other are. It's a really lovely relationship to play on screen.

Catch new episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, streaming now on HBO Max.