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medium sizeMost actors have a warm, endearing story about the moment they got their big break – you know the one. Tears, hugs, calls to parents, silent thanks to God. Peter Claffey’s is not that. When he was told he had been cast as the lead in HBO’s new series game of Thrones When his body finally caught up with the news, he was standing in a fitting room in Belfast. “I was pee Sweat,” the Irish actor said. “[I thought] My heart literally couldn’t beat any faster. “He ran to the bathroom and threw up so hard it was ridiculous. “I’m telling you, I’ve never thrown up so much in my life,” he said, comparing it to a scene in the movie. Team America: World Police Puppet Projectile vomits continuously for a minute. “It’s been a rollercoaster.”
It’s a fitting enough origin story for a series like this: knight of the seven kingdomsPremiering on Sky Atlantic this week, the content is utterly disgusting and full of vomit game of Thrones Was. Prior to joining the cast, Claffey had only appeared in a few small roles (notably playing the not-so-crazy love interest Joe in Apple TV+’s critically acclaimed Irish comedy series) bad sisters Starring opposite Cillian Murphy in historical drama little things like this). Now, he’s thrust into the center of one of the world’s most fervent fandoms. game of Thrones: When it comes to pop culture influence, few television shows this century can rival HBO’s hit fantasy adaptation. In the new spin-off, the story takes place approximately 90 years ago game of Thrones Based on George R.R. Martin’s novella Dunk and Egg, Claffey stars as Sir Duncan the Tall, a soft-hearted hero who takes as his squire the clever bald kid “Igg” played by Dexter Saul Ansel.
Despite his lack of experience, it’s easy to see why Claffey, a former football player, was cast as the gentle, burly hedge knight (a kind of scruffy, landless ranger in Martin’s world). He’s 6 feet 5 inches tall, built like an industrial refrigerator, with a heavy chin and stubble. But he is far from your average rugby player: Today, Claffey appeared via FaceTime from his home in Galway, his long red hair pulled back with a headband like Fernando Torres, his glasses magnifying his eyes to bug-like proportions. “I’m a total nerd,” he joked.
Claffey grew up in a small town in Ireland, “where you either had to have a lot of women or be good at sports to be cool.” He chose the latter. By the age of 19, he weighed 119kg and his physical attributes earned him a place in the Ireland U20 rugby league team. “My whole identity was just a rugby player. All the things like acting, acting and music – were put on hold,” he said. He subsequently signed a development contract with Connacht Rugby, one of Ireland’s four professional teams, which proved to be a painful lesson. He failed to break into the first team and found himself in a sporting limbo. “This has probably been the most isolating, loneliest year I’ve ever had,” he admits. “It’s hard to joke around with the lads when you don’t feel like you’re part of the cause.”
Around the same time, Claffey was building a following on Instagram for his comedy sketches. “Doing that really kind of set my soul on fire,” he recalls. He decided to take a chance on acting school before turning to the traditional fallback route – “an office job, or manual labor for the rest of his life” – and he said he was “very lucky”. “I’m definitely happier now than I was when I was playing rugby,” he said.
Just as Caffey lived up to expectations, Sir Duncan—or “Dunk” to his friends—wasn’t quite the heroic knight from the fairy tales. He is naive and uncertain, eager to prove himself one of the defenders of Westeros but lacking the pedigree or training to do so. Claffey plays him with an overgrown quality, like a shy schoolboy trapped in Tyson Fury’s body. As a young man, Claffey was particularly self-conscious about his body: “I’ve been like that my whole life,” he says. “When I was a kid I got a fair amount of bullying. I looked a little weird, shaky and uncoordinated.”
while shooting knightSeries creator Ira Parker tried to reassure him that the character “should be intense.” That said, Parker may not realize just how upset his star player is. As the audition process progressed, Claffey’s health rapidly deteriorated due to stress. “I was like, if I get this, I’m going to have to go to the hospital or something,” he recalled.
After receiving a confirmation call from his agent, he remembers his girlfriend coming home and finding him lying on the floor, white all over, curled up in a fetal position. “I was just kind of devastated,” he said. “What was supposed to be such a beautiful, amazing experience turned into one of the worst days of my life. The aftermath forced a reckoning.” Claffey said he embarked on what he called a “spiritual journey” to deal with his anxiety and insisted he is now “very healthy”. It still feels weird to say it. “It’s weird,” he admits, “because no one has a damn clue!”
Although his concerns are extreme, they are not unfounded. when game of Thrones The show ended in 2019, sparking one of the most virulent fan revolts in history. Claffey admits he is one of them. “I’m obsessed with the original series,” he said. “I’m one of those people who doesn’t think the ending is good enough.” The shadow cast by the infamous ending puts enormous pressure on any new project, such as a prequel series Dragon HouseMany felt it failed to capture the magic of its predecessor. Claffey is acutely aware of censorship knight will be faced, but that doesn’t make it any less scary. “It’s terrible,” he said, “because it doesn’t feel like an original product and it’s not something I don’t like.” He exhales. “I really, really want to get things done.”
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At least Claffey isn’t worried about the series’ tendency toward gratuitous violence and nudity. I pointed out that even game of Thrones Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss recently admitted that they went too far with certain scenes. Claffey was stunned. “They think they’ve gone too far?” he asked in disbelief. “It’s sex and dragons,” he noted, echoing Ian McShane’s sentiments infamous assessment series in which he has guest-starred. “This is game of Thrones Yeah? This is the stuff of adult fantasy, and it has a huge fan base. ” Without spoiling anything, it’s fair to say that Claffy became a classic game of Thrones beat knight. “I wanted it to be as scary as possible,” he said. “That’s the way it’s described in the book, so I’m happy that we actually got to that level, 100 percent.”
Claffey is determined to do material justice, not just for the fans but for Martin himself, with whom he has a “good relationship”. He added: “If the creators – the people who ignited this absolute world in their hearts – if they’re happy with it going away, that’s really good for me. Then I’m happy.”
For a man who once asked himself who he was without football, Claffey now has his answer. It might just come with some sweat, some fear, and the occasional violent vomiting.
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will be available on Sky and streaming services from January 19