The first episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms introduced its main duo—Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell)—and a few supporting characters who’ll become more crucial as the season continues. That includes the Fossoways, Ser Steffon (Edward Ashley) and his cousin and squire, Raymun (Shaun Thomas), as well as Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford), a puppeteer who catches Dunk’s eye.

We get to know Tanselle a little better in episode two—but the main takeaways from her character so far are that she’s a talented performer and that Dunk has a giant crush on her. At a recent A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms press day, io9 asked Crawford about just what Tanselle, one of very few female characters on the show, will make of this awkward, hulking admirer.

“I do think that initially it is quite one-sided,” Crawford explained. “I think Dunk is maybe not the most charming person initially. I don’t think there is a mutual attraction. Maybe like a wonder or a… I think she’s just puzzled by him more than anything. And then maybe as it progresses and she kind of sees the goofiness he has, maybe there’s like a little bit of something growing.”

Later in the season, Tanselle sees Dunk’s heroic streak in action. “Having someone do such a grand gesture like Dunk does for her, I think, could change her feelings about him,” Crawford said. “But I like that it’s a mystery, like you’re not really sure.”

Far more certain about his fondness for Dunk is Raymund, one of very few people at the Ashford tournament who wholeheartedly embraces Dunk as a friend right away. And the connection, Thomas told io9, is instant for Raymun.

“I think it’s the initial meeting that they have when Raymun and Steffon are training,” Thomas said when asked when Raymun felt the spark of kinship. In the scene, Steffon is kicking his cousin’s ass as they’re sparring and insulting him, too. Then he challenges the very tall stranger who’s just ambled up to step into the training ring. Dunk takes in the situation and decides he’d better politely move on rather than engage.

“I think it’s the way Steffon communicates with Dunk, and he doesn’t react in a way that Raymun expects. That resonates with Raymun, and he sees something in him that draws him to want to know more. I think he makes that kind of his task, to get to know this giant of a man, a hedge knight who he has some sort of relation to, in the sense [that he also] feels like he’s a little bit ‘less than.’”

As for Dunk and Egg, Claffey said the bond that anchors A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ main characters extended off-camera too. And it didn’t take much time to form; in fact, it was cemented during his first and only chemistry read with Ansell—which is also where the future Dunk met the future Egg for the first time.

“We met first in the final, or in the chemistry read, and they only did one chemistry read because I think we kind of clicked on that day,” Claffey told io9. “He looks like, as George [R.R. Martin] said, he came straight out of the book. We clicked amazingly in the chemistry read, and then we had two months’ prep before we got into it, which was such a great help because I had so much horse riding to do, and he had a lot to do.”

He continued. “We were living around the same place in Belfast, right beside an arcade in the cinema, and we spent a lot of time in the arcade. I got to know him and got to know his family—they’re just really, really lovely, down-to-earth, nice people. I care about the little lad now, big time, and feel quite protective of him … I don’t know how he does it sometimes, but he’s got a great head on his shoulders, and I find him quite inspiring. He’s got a huge, huge career ahead of him, and it’s just an honor to be able to do this with him for sure.”

New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms arrive Sundays on HBO and HBO Max