Filming begins in Belfast on new Game of Thrones spin-off series

Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Steffan Hill/HBO)

Kurtis Reid

Filming of the next entry in the Game of Thrones universe has started in Belfast, over six years since the original series wrapped up in Northern Ireland.

On Tuesday, cameras began rolling at Titanic Studios on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the second spin-off series based on George R R Martin’s famed medieval fantasy novels.

Based on a three-novel series, collectively called Tales of Dunk and Egg, themselves a spin-off of the Game of Thrones books, the series follows a nobleman who takes the title of a knight and makes his way through the fictional seven kingdoms. There he meets a young boy who he takes on as a squire.

The series will be led by Irish actor and former professional rugby player for Connacht, Peter Claffey, in his first leading role as Ser Duncan the Tall while nine-year-old actor Dexter Sol Ansell will play Egg.

Liam Cunningham in Game Of Thrones. Picture: Helen Sloan

They will be joined by Finn Bennett, who was last seen in Sky and HBO’s True Detective: Night Country, and Bertie Carvel who played Prime Minister Tony Blair in the recent series of The Crown.

NI Screen said: “Their journey will take them to a competition in which they encounter several members of the Targaryen dynasty — including Prince Aerion Targaryen, Prince Baelor Targaryen and Prince Maekar Targaryen — along with another knight known as the Laughing Storm, Ser Lyonel Baratheon, and a puppeteer named Tanselle.”

The events of the new series are set 100 years before Game of Thrones — but 100 years after the events of House of the Dragon, the series’ first spin-off which aired the first episode of its second series on Sunday to critical acclaim.

Despite almost all of Game of Thrones being filmed in Belfast, fans were reportedly disappointed when it was confirmed in July 2020 that House of the Dragon would be filmed in England and Spain.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms filming in Belfast comes after Titanic Studios lost out on production of another blockbuster series, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner prequel series.

A previous Game of Thrones spin-off was filmed in Belfast before it was scrapped after one episode.

The untitled series was set to star Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts.

Production has recently wrapped on another medieval fantasy project in Belfast, the live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon, which will star Gerard Butler, Nick Frost and Mason Thames and will be released next year.

It’s expected if the film does well, production will return to Northern Ireland for the sequels.

The official series description for the Game of Thrones spin-off reads: “A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naive but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg.”