“A Less Sexy Geralt of Rivia”: Peter Claffey Reveals His Surprising Inspiration for Dunk

With A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms just weeks away, star Peter Claffey is finally lifting the curtain on how he approached playing Ser Duncan the Tall—and his answer comes with a delightful crossover twist. In a recent interview, Claffey compared Dunk to Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher, describing his hedge knight as a kind of rough‑edged, less polished cousin to Henry Cavill’s iconic monster hunter.​

Quick read:

• Peter Claffey says he modeled parts of Dunk on Henry Cavill’s Geralt, calling him “a less sexy, less confident, less charismatic Geralt of Rivia.”​

• Claffey watched The Witcher and The Witcher 3 via his brother’s PlayStation to help shape his take on a wandering warrior.

• Geralt and Dunk both have a few things in common.

Peter Claffey channels a “less sexy, less charismatic Geralt”

Speaking to Nerdist, Claffey explained that he drew real inspiration from Cavill’s performance in The Witcher’s first season, which he watched at home with his brother after swearing off owning a PlayStation because gaming made him “never get anything done.” Watching both the Netflix series and gameplay of The Witcher 3 helped him get a feel for a certain kind of wandering, stoic warrior—only Dunk, as Claffey puts it, is “a less sexy, less confident, less charismatic Geralt of Rivia.”​

How alike are Dunk and Geralt?

It’s a clever way to frame Dunk for audiences who might know Geralt but not George R.R. Martin’s novellas. Like Geralt, Dunk is a traveling swordsman for hire with a strong, if sometimes clumsy, moral core. Unlike Geralt, he’s frequently out of his depth socially, less smooth, and much more prone to awkwardness, mistakes, and being the butt of the joke. Claffey’s comment underlines that while Dunk is built like a classic fantasy hero, the show will lean into his humility and insecurity as much as his physical prowess.​

For fans of both The Witcher and Westeros, this crossover comparison is an easy hook: expect some of the wandering‑swordsman energy, but filtered through Martin’s grounded, sometimes brutally human lens. Dunk may carry a sword and tower over everyone around him, but if Claffey’s comments are any indication, he’ll also be allowed to be foolish, kind, uncertain—and all the more lovable for it.​

Read next: 10 details you may have missed in the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms final trailer