In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the father-son dynamic between Prince Maekar Targaryen (Sam Spruell) and his oldest son Daeron Targaryen (Henry Ashton) carries a weird kind of intense weight. But the foundation for that intensity was laid long before cameras rolled, during the table read. In a recent podcast appearance with host Tom Zachar, Henry Ashton opened up about the moment Sam Spruell completely changed how he approaches acting in those early script reading sessions.
Quick read:
- Sam Spruell commanded the room during the series’ table read
- Henry was impressed and inspired by that
- Sam Spruell’s was the most impressive table read Henry’s ever seen
Sam Spruell (Credits: Gerald Matzka)
The moment that stole the room
Ashton didn’t hold back when describing his on-screen dad’s impact:
“Sam Spruell. He played my dad. I don’t think I’ve ever been so… sort of taken with someone at a read-through before.”
He explained that the group didn’t do a full read-through in the usual sense, but when Spruell spoke, the energy shifted instantly.
“You just couldn’t take your eyes off him across the table and you could hear a pin drop around the table every time he was speaking. And he commanded this sort of power.”
Ashton was floored by Spruell’s commitment: leaning forward, fully engaged, delivering lines with zero restraint.
The lesson: No holding back
Henry Ashton reflected on the common table-read habit he’s seen (and sometimes fallen into):
“Sometimes at read-throughs people feel a bit embarrassed and they don’t want to act right? Yeah, they don’t want to like give it some beans. They want to just like sort of lean back… Imagine there’s those people as well.”
He gets it, the nerves, self-consciousness, not wanting to overcommit too early. But Spruell did the opposite:
“He was like leaning across the table and he was just like chewing the words. That’s f**king cool… I’m gonna do that because why not? Like yeah, you’re there to hear the script how it’s written. Yeah, the writers want to hear it. Mmm f**king act.”
That raw intensity stuck with Ashton. He realized there was no reason to hold back when the writers and team need to hear the script alive.
Why it mattered for Daeron and Maekar
Spruell’s full-throttle approach at the table read set a tone that carried into filming. For Ashton, playing Daeron, who’s a man wrestling with prophetic nightmares and alcohol meant embracing vulnerability and commitment from day one. Seeing his on-screen father “chew the words” and command silence guided him towards a better performance.
