Peter Claffey says Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin ‘left me to my own devices’ for spinoff show

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms star Peter Claffey has revealed that he shared hours-long in-depth conversations with George R.R. Martin about his character — but when it came to his acting, the iconic creator had a hands-off approach.

The 29-year-old actor stars in the new Game of Thrones spinoff series, which is a prequel based on Martin’s books, The Tales of Dunk and Egg. As a self-identified superfan of the original fantasy HBO Max series, Claffey said he was eager to talk to the legendary author about the story, but that he did not seek him out for advice on playing his character, Ser Duncan the Tall.

“He kind of left me to my own devices,” Claffey told People in an interview published Wednesday. “I think he was quite involved in the casting process himself, so I’m sure he probably saw the way that I wanted to do things, or the way that I was trying to do things.”

The Irish actor added that he did not want to “bother” Martin with questions because he “seemed to be pretty happy” with the show.

Martin himself said the casting was a “home run” and confirmed that he was proud of the series, which airs new episodes each Sunday and has already been renewed for a second season. The author wrote on his blog page earlier this month that he had loved all six episodes of the show.

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The new series follows Claffey’s knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his squire Egg, played by Dexter Sol Ansell. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — which The Independent’s Louis Chilton described as an “odd, body fluid-drenched” and “off-beat” prequel — also stars actors Finn Bennett, Henry Ashton, Daniel Ings and Tanzyn Crawford.

“Dunk and Egg have always been favourites of mine, and the actors we found to portray them are just incredible,” Martin wrote.

In return, Claffey raved to People about the creator: "We spent a lot of time, the last time we had dinner, talking about different scenes that I loved [in the show] and stuff like that. I’m just a ginormous nerd when it comes to superheroes and fantasy. He likes talking about his creation, and I love talking about his creation.”

Claffey has previously been open about how much pressure he felt when he landed the leading role of Dunk in the prequel to the beloved franchise. The actor told The Independent’s Tom Murray that he had a “bit of a meltdown” on the day he was cast.