A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Ansell on Getting GRRM's Endorsement

Posted in: Game Of Thrones, HBO, TV | Tagged: "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Ansell on Getting GRRM's Endorsement

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms star Dexter Sol Ansell reflects on how George R. R. Martin complimented him on his portrayal of Egg, and more.

Published Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:37:09 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms star Dexter Sol Ansell says George R. R. Martin praised him as book-accurate Egg.
• Ansell recalls GRRM telling him he looked and sounded like he jumped straight out of the Dunk and Egg stories.
• The young actor jokes HBO waited for him, saying the Egg artwork from earlier adaptations looks exactly like him.
• Ansell says playing Egg meant balancing his Targaryen identity with his stable boy and squire life in season one.

Dexter Sol Ansell is not one you typically think of as a major star fronting A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, given his very young age and the George R. R. Martin more adult-oriented high fantasy franchise Game of Thrones on HBO. Based on his Dunk and Egg novellas, Martin paid a visit to the set as the 11-year-old actor reflected to The Hollywood Reporter on his conversation with the author, complimenting him on how much he matched his vision of "Egg." The series follows Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall (Peter Claffey), a lowborn hedge knight who tries to prove himself to be worthy in service within the Realm, and joining him is Egg, who becomes his squire as the two later bond and become friends, even after the royal truth comes out about his lineage.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Star Dexter Sol Ansell Reflects on GRRM's Visit and Compliment

"[GRRM's] very happy. He didn't give me any advice. He said, 'You look and sound like you just jumped out of the books.' That was fun." Ansell adds about the graphic novel adaptations of Dunk and Egg: "If you actually look at the drawings, which were drawn, like, five years before I was born — they could have made it then, but they didn't. They waited for me," Ansell teased THR, putting two hands under his chin and looking up like a cherub in a Renaissance painting. "But those drawings of Egg look exactly like me."

Ansell also saw a lot of himself in Egg, "He has lots of humor, and he's very funny, like me. I can be quite funny sometimes," adding how it didn't come without its share of adversity. "There were some really hard moments where I had to juggle being a Targaryen and being just a stable boy, and if you watch season one, you can see the little moments where I'm juggling Targaryen-ness and squire-ness. That was a lot of hard work [I put] into that." For more on Ansell's bond with Claffey, working with GOT's Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), who was in similar shoes growing up during the HBO series, and more, you can check out the entire interview. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is available on HBO Max.

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