“Everyone has their conspiracies. I’ve been speaking to George, and he hasn’t decided either,” says the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms star.
Photo: Steffan Hill/HBO
Nearly every Targaryen depicted onscreen in HBO’s Game of Thrones universe is a monster. The family is known for murdering its own members, planning atrocities with wildfire, and generally unleashing a draconian rage on the commoners of Westeros. Even Daenerys, one of the protagonists of Thrones, revealed her madness at the end when she went from freeing slaves to burning the innocents of King’s Landing alive. Then there’s Egg, one of two main characters in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Even though he’s secretly a Targaryen prince, he seems like a pretty good kid!
The latest show based on George R.R. Martin’s books is a breath of fresh air compared to Thrones and House of the Dragon. Rather than chronicling epic dragon battles or backstabbing palace intrigue, the six-episode season followed Egg as he pretended he was a commoner rather than Prince Aegon V. After running away from his family before a big tournament, he meets Dunk, a big but inexperienced hedge knight, and becomes his squire. Egg watches a puppet show, goes to some parties, takes in a joust or two, and bonds with his tall new friend and mentor. Sure, he accidentally got Dunk in the middle of a 14-person trial by combat, which led to the death of the crown prince of Westeros. Even so, Knight’s stakes felt refreshing. You don’t need to rise to the level of dragon civil war for family drama to be engaging.
This lighter version of Westeros is the only one Dexter Sol Ansell knows. Although he plays Egg in Knight, he hasn’t seen the other shows because he’s 11 years old and those series are famously violent and full of nudity. “All I really know is that there’s a load of dragons, and they all want to be the king or the queen or whatever,” Ansell says. “And apparently I have a really good granddaughter,” he adds, seemingly referring to Daenerys, who is Egg’s great-granddaughter and, as the end of Game of Thrones showed, maybe wasn’t actually that good. But, hey, he hasn’t seen it. Not being familiar with the darker side of Westeros might actually work in his — and his show’s — favor.
Is there a difference between how you play Egg when his identity is a secret compared to how you play him when he’s a Targaryen prince wearing the fancy black outfit?
The outfit definitely makes me feel more royal, but I tried to play it pretty much the same. It’s very hard because I have to be a smallfolk boy and then I also have to have that element of being a prince. Now and then, I do a bit of princely things, like when we’re in the tent and Dunk says, “[Ser Donnel of the Kingsguard] is the son of a crabber,” and I go, “His father owns half the fleets in Westeros.” Then he’s like, “How do you know that?” And I’m like, “Um, I like fishing.” I have those moments where I go, Oh, bit too far there. I didn’t want to play the princely part too high. If Egg was being really princely, then it would upset Dunk, and he would say, “You’re not anything I thought you were.” And Egg wants to be what Dunk thinks he is.
What’s the relationship like between Egg and Dunk? On the one hand, you’re a child and his squire, which means he’s bigger than you and your boss. But on the other hand, he’s a commoner and you’re the king’s grandson.
He tries to be a smallfolk as much as he can when he’s out in public, but at the end of the day, Egg really just wants to impress his dad. When he’s around all these major things, he wants to look royal and be fancy. But when he’s around Dunk, he wants to be small and kind of curl up into a ball.
Which of those is the real Egg: the one who wants to be small or the one who wants to be an impressive royal?
He wants to be big, but he really wants to have someone who loves him. So he will do whatever he can to have a really good friend or a really good relationship with someone like Dunk.
And he’s not getting that from his family.
He’s tried to get it with his family hundreds of times, but it just hasn’t worked. That’s why he ended up saying to his brother, the lucky drunk Daeron, “I’ll find another wine bottle, and if I give you this, will you shave my head?”
Why do you think Egg is a seemingly nice, normal kid rather than an insane monster like a lot of Targaryens?
Because so many people were mean to him. Aerion was absolutely vile to him. All these people are so cruel. He knows how that feels, and he wouldn’t want anyone else to feel that way. He’s felt so much pain. That’s why he tries so hard to make sure everyone is okay. He wants to welcome everyone and be kind to everyone so they don’t have the same experience he did.
Is he just an innocent, or do you think there is some of that Targaryen madness lurking within him?
In front of Aerion, yes. He just wants to kill him.
So we are seeing some of that madness when Egg attempts to murder his brother? What’s going through Egg’s head?
He’s thinking, Aerion killed my cat. Dunk nearly died in the Trial of Seven. He’s done all these vile things. I need to make this right — he can’t be doing this anymore. And then Maekar comes in. Before Egg ran away, the one thing he really wanted was to impress him and be welcomed. And now Maekar is nice to him for once; he puts his hands on his shoulders, and it’s a really nice moment. It soothes Egg and makes him realize, Wow, finally he appreciates me. Maekar probably thought Egg would never do anything like that, and now, finally, Egg’s standing up for himself. Honestly, I think in that moment, Maekar feels proud, because I don’t think Maekar liked Aerion either.
How does Egg feel about Baelor’s death and his role in it?
Egg really liked Baelor, but he didn’t show it because he never spent too much time around Baelor. Baelor was probably busy in meetings and things. But he’s actually the nicest one of all the Targaryens, and it hurts. But it hurts Dunk way more than it hurts Egg because Baelor is the person Dunk actually looked up to and thought was a great person. Baelor helped him and fought with him in the Trial of Seven, and he just died.
Who should feel the most guilt about Baelor’s death: Maekar, Aerion, Dunk, Egg? The seven gods?
It’s everyone’s fault. If Tanselle wasn’t at that exact puppet show, at the exact time when Aerion was there, at the exact time Dunk came — if Egg hadn’t gone to Dunk for help … Yeah, I think Egg’s kindness killed Baelor in the end. I went to Dunk saying, “Go save her.” And Baelor, because he’s so kind, stood up for Dunk because Dunk was being kind.
Kindness kills in Westeros. Dunk, obviously, is going to take his share of the guilt with him going forward, but does Egg carry any of it too?
I don’t think Egg does. That’s the least of his worries. People in Egg’s family die quite a lot, so it’s more of a surprise to Dunk than Egg. He knows all of his family is going to be killed, because no one dies from natural causes. They all get killed.
The post-credits scene in the finale reveals that Maekar did not give Egg permission to squire Dunk, something that isn’t made explicit in the novella. Can you talk about why Egg decided to run off with Dunk anyway? Will there be any consequences to that?
It could be for so many reasons, but going off of that last answer, maybe it was because people are dying, Aerion’s been sent to the Free Cities, and Egg’s thinking, I’m coming up. I’m going to be next. I’m going to be taken away. I’m going to be killed. So he’s like, I’m just gonna get out of here. Let’s go to another place.
Does season two feel different since it’s another Dunk and Egg adventure rather than an origin story?
All I can say is that Egg definitely has more action, okay? He gets a bit more in it.
How much of Egg’s eventual fate do you know?
Do you mean Summerhall?
Yeah, so you know all about it.
Everyone has their conspiracies about what they think is going to happen. Some people think they know what’s going to happen, but I’ve been speaking to George, and he hasn’t decided either. What’s everyone thinking? Maybe have another think, okay? It might be different.
Does Egg’s future weigh on your performance of him as a child at all?
I’m just playing him in the moment. Honestly, I didn’t even know Egg was going to become the king. Like, I just completely forgot for ages and then I was like, Oh yeah, Egg’s the king. But I try not to think about it a lot because it’s in 40 years’ time.
The only time it really comes up in this first season is when you meet the fortune teller in episode three, and Egg is very shocked by her prediction. Is he shocked because this fortune doesn’t make any sense to him? Or is he shocked because it actually does make sense and he’s scared that it could happen or will?
Well, things like that have happened to the Targaryens. He believes that people are being true. I guess he’s like, Wow, that could happen to me.
What’s it like being bald?
Well, it’s exciting. They shave it every morning when we’re filming. It helps at school now that I’m back. I’m making a business: If anyone wants to feel my head — because you can feel the hair, and it feels really nice — what I do is if you buy me a drink, you get to touch my hair. If you buy me a meal, you get a free pass every day.
There’s a viral clip going around of Daniel Ings saying he realized you were cool with all the swearing before it cuts to you saying how much you don’t like it. Is that a difference between you and Egg? Does he like to cuss?
I mean, I don’t think he even views them as curse words. They’re just normal words.
Without asking you to repeat anything, did you learn any new swears while making this show?
No.
You already knew them all — you just don’t want to say them because you’re a good kid?
Yeah. You hear them in murmurs from other people at school, I guess.
See All
