Steven Prusakowski
When it comes to a high-profile series, a poor performance can pull audiences out of the story completely. This is especially true for a two-character series like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, where the entire narrative rests on a single partnership. If either actor rings false or feels too polished, you will lose the viewers who are already using a heavy dose of the suspension of disbelief.
(Warning: vague spoilers ahead)
Set in the gritty, dangerous world of Westeros, the series follows Dunk (Peter Claffey), a towering hedge knight, and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), his young squire, as they wander a realm filled with hidden perils. For the show to work, these characters must feel lived-in, bearing scars of their own unique place in this fictional world. It is a tough challenge for any actor, but when one of your leads is only eleven years old, achieving that level of authenticity is a massive accomplishment. That is exactly what makes Dexter Sol Ansell such a triumph.
Speaking with the young actor, it becomes instantly clear why he was cast. He is a rare mix of an old soul and a kid simply being a kid. He brings a weight to Egg, capturing the burden of growing up in Westeros, the growing odd-couple type friendship with Dunk, and the heavy secrets his character carries. Dexter’s performance is layered, blending sharp-witted, smart-aleck humor while also being underlying sweet.
While opposites in many ways, even the sheer size difference between the 6-foot-5-inch tall Peter and the 4-foot-2-inch tall Dexter makes for quite the unique, yet believable friendship. It is a pairing in a hostile world of two fellow lone travelers who team up as much out of a need for survival as a desire for company. Balancing the wide-eyed childhood energy with his surprising maturity, Dexter makes Egg feel like a real boy thrust into an adult world opposite a man-child learning to take in the world without his mentor for the first time. Because of Egg’s wiser-than-his-years way of carrying himself and Dexter’s ability to make it believable, at times it is tough to tell who is the leader and who is the kid.
Dexter perfectly embodies the duality of being a kid who loves to have fun on set while quickly shifting into focus the moment the cameras roll. Despite the age difference, he considers himself and Claffey to be friends. The pair keep things light during long shoots with roast battles and arcade trips on weekends, calling the whole experience “very cool” and “crazy”… despite the mud and rain.
Yet when a key scene demanded it, he delivered raw emotion that elevated an already incredibly intense sequence. This happens in episode 5, “In the Name of the Mother,” which features the brutal Trial of Seven and stands as one of the best episodes this year and beyond. His passionate screams of concern, pain, and encouragement during Dunk’s near-fatal trial echo through the minds of all who have watched it. The amazing thing is he had to create much of the moment in his head and still deliver his heartfelt plea.
He described reacting to a tennis ball during the intense seven-on-seven battle: “Yeah, all the ADs are running with the tennis balls, but saying that this is Dunk on the floor. And then I get really upset because it’s Dunk on the floor. And then he stands up and I’m really excited and he’s about to die. But we see his eyes open and you have to scream, ‘Wait!’ and ‘Get up!’ and they’re doing all that while I’m acting.”
That ability to toggle between playful energy and serious dramatics is exactly what makes Egg so believable and captivating. Even with all the action, lore, and mystery of the Game of Thrones franchise, Dexter stands out as one of the greatest assets of the George R.R. Martin universe.
Below are several standout moments from a recent conversation with Dexter that reveal why his performance lands so well:
On what he admires most about the character and what he brings to the role:
“I love that he wants to be a fighter. I love his heart… No matter what happens, if he gets knocked down, he comes back again and again and again… He always fights for what he wants. And he always tries and tries again until he makes it right… Yeah, I always try and try again. And I always want to achieve the best I can… I’m learning new things every day when I’m on set and all the actors around me and all the staff is making me, I believe, a better actor.”
His chemistry and friendship with co-star Peter Claffey (Dunk):
“I’m always with him pretty much every single day. Even the weekends, we go to the arcades together and have fun… we spent a lot of time together, which was really, really fun. And it was a great experience. He’s a great, great person. And we’re best, best friends. We’re still hanging out today… I’m going to say him [is more like his character], because I’m very like my character because I’m humorous. I love fishing. I’m bold now… But he’s a bit more like his character. He’s like, he’s that kind of vibe in real life.”
On the physical realities of filming and the authenticity of the world:
“It’s obviously very, very hard at times. It’s all the mud. And the rain is very heavy, especially Glenarm, which was all the exterior. And it was pouring and pouring and pouring down. And the mud was so heavy. I had a cloak. And the cloak was picking up all the mud. And over time, it got heavier and heavier. And even though it was pouring down, all the firemen had to hose the mud down to make it even more wet. And eventually, it was just so heavy, the cloak. We had to get a new cloak… Everything you saw was there. There was no extra stuff they put in with VFX.”
On-set life, including his collaboration and care from the crew:
“When we were filming the scene with hunder when I’m training Thunder and I have to be barefoot… At first they got me these like blue feet and then… it rained like the night before. So all the grass was really, really wet and it was washing off the paint… So they said, can you go barefoot? And it was so thorny and sheep pooey… Sarah Idina Smith, who was the director, then she literally took off her own shoes and socks… ran back and forth, back and forth through all the sheep poo and thorns and all of this. And she cleared a path for me. And that was utterly amazing.”
On approaching the character and understanding Egg’s full arc:
“I had to obviously not hide as much to Dunk himself. Other characters, I hid it more. And but when I was talking straight to Dunk, I could speak a bit posher. And be more Targaryen vibe rather than trying to play it down because he knew… I know season three, book three… I know a rough estimate of Egg’s whole journey.”
You can watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO Max and my full interview with Dexter Sol Ansell below. Also look for interviews with the show director Owen Harris and showrunner Ira Parker (coming soon).
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