A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms star reveals unexpected connection to original Game of Thrones series

Warning: Spoilers ahead for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode 4.

As Daeron Targaryen comes to the forefront in this week's episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, actor Henry Ashton has revealed his connections to Westeros run a lot deeper than you might expect.

The actor plays Daeron the Drunken, Egg's older brother, and one of the Targaryen princes responsible for Dunk's upcoming Trial of Seven. He also reveals to Dunk in episode 4 that he dreamed of him with a dead dragon – a moment that will hold a lot of importance in the episodes to come.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, actor Ashton revealed Daeron is not the first Thrones role he auditioned for, explaining: " I actually auditioned for the original Game of Thrones when I was either 17 or 18 in school – they came round all the schools to audition people.

" It was for Jon Snow. I think they went to every school and auditioned every teenager!"

In episode 4, Daeron reveals to Dunk that his dreams always have a way of coming true, which sheds a very disconcerting light on his dream about Dunk and a dead dragon ahead of the hedge knight's trial by combat.

Speaking about the importance of that particular premonition, Ashton explained: "Daeron doesn't quite know what his dreams mean, even he's confused by them. So when he has this premonition of a dead dragon, he makes assumptions of who that would be and what that means... He doesn't quite know what it means, but he knows it's not good for him or his family."

Ashton pointed out: "He's one of those wonderfully flawed characters, which I just enjoy playing so much, because there's just so much behind what's there on the page. He sort of hides behind this dark, irreverent humour. But behind that is just a truly tortured soul."

"It's a shame that such a great power – these dreams and premonitions that he has - are [given] to a man that is unfortunately unable to handle it," he continued.

"I think he's he's a really important character because he bridges the gap from the Targaryens to Dunk and Egg a little bit, and he sort of shows what it's like to grow up in such a brutal family."

Meanwhile, Daeron sparked plenty of conversation on set, with even the show's creatives – showrunner Ira Parker and director Owen Harris – disagreeing on the character's intentions.

" Ira and Owen had both quite differing opinions on where Daeron was coming from, in terms of, is he a good man who's pretending not to be, or is he not a good guy but pretending to be?" Ashton revealed.

"They both had a very different opinions on it, whether Daeron was a good person or not. I enjoyed leaning into the fact that Daeron was a good person but he's so consumed with his own problems and pain that he behaves awfully.

"One of the audition notes I'll share for when they sent the character breakdown through was Withnail and I – very charismatic and upper class, but also just completely disheveled and just an absolute mess. [He's] weirdly charming and funny – I found that note really fun to play with."

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