Exclusive: Peter Claffey Chats The Season Finale Of ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
The season finale of the Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was held last night, . Based off the novella, The Hedge Knight, BeautifulBallad had the opportunity to chat with star of the series, Peter Claffey, about that final episode and the first season.
On why Dunk did not check with Egg;s father about allowing him to be his squire prior to the season ending: “Because Maker didn’t say anything. He was like, ‘He’s my last son.’ And then he walked out and Dunk’s not the brightest spark in the world, so he probably thought he’s giving him permission off your pop. But you’re right, he should have double checked. But you don’t get the rest of the story without it, and it’s a nice little cliffhanger.”
On Dunk’s big reaction to the death of Baelor compared to Arlan’s death: “It’s the guilt aspect of that. All he’s ever heard from Arlan and from lots of people is that Baelor is going to turn this place around. He’s going to really bring the people of Westeros into a new good day, and he feels totally responsible for the fact that this man has fought for his case and lost his life. And he feels from the people of Ashford towards the end are like, ‘If it wasn’t for that idiot hedge knight who should have lost his hand or lost his foot, we’d still have had this great king and now we feel like we’re going into a dark age.’ It only gets worse because the great sickness sweeps across the land during the drought when they’re in near cold moat. That guilt just weighs massively heavy on Dunk for sure. Whereas Arlan was kind of almost like a sweet goodbye to someone who taught him and he gave him his burial and took his horses and there’s no guilt attached to that. He did what he could for Arlan, but he feels he stripped the world and the kingdom of the next great king.”
On Dunk and Egg’s relationship after the betrayal: “I think there is a challenge that’s placed on that relationship and the betrayal that is a part of it, when we find out the different contrasting backgrounds that they both have, there’s something incredibly sweet about the fact that he is right here at the bottom in the dirt of Flea Bottom, and Egg is parading around the Red Keep and eating the finest breakfast in Westeros, that doesn’t affect the relationship and the bond that they generated, and their time in Ashford shines through and they continue to stay together. I don’t really know if you see that anywhere else. I could be wrong. I might be forgetting something in Game of Thrones, but it’s such a sweet thing to play and it was a really nice thing to explore as well on screen for sure.”
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres on HBO on January 18.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Photo Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO