Martin surprised by bathroom-scene opening in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Collider reports HBO’s upcoming spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms opens not with dragons or intrigue but with Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall squatting behind a tree as the Game of Thrones theme plays — a moment George R.R. Martin says surprised him.

Martin is quoted as saying, “Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. Not to say that my characters don’t take s***s, but I normally don’t write about them at any length.” After viewing a rough cut, he wrote, “What is this? Where did this come from? I don’t know if we really need the s***,” though showrunner Ira Parker ultimately kept the beat in the episode.

Parker told Collider the scene was meant to literalize the clash between imagined heroism and messy reality — “He’s hearing that call to greatness,” and the reality “turns his guts to water.” Parker also joked about the practical effects, saying, “We don’t have the budget for fake anything on this show. Very, very little is done fake. That’s his butt.” The six-episode series, based on Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg and set roughly a century before Game of Thrones, follows Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell); new episodes air Sundays on HBO, and whether the opening bathroom break becomes an iconic moment or mere franchise trivia remains to be seen.

Key Topics

Culture, George R.r. Martin, Hbo, Ira Parker, Peter Claffey, Ser Duncan