Even George R.R. Martin, known for his graphic storytelling, was taken aback by the opening scene of HBO Max’s new Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Set about 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones, the spinoff stars Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan the Tall, a young and naive but courageous knight, and his squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), as they face dangerous exploits along their wanderings. It’s based on Martin’s 1998 novella The Hedge Knight.
Early in the show’s Sunday premiere, as Duncan grieves the death of his liege lord Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), he is suddenly inspired to enter a jousting tournament despite being an inexperienced jouster. His “aha” moment is underscored by a swelling soundtrack before the scene abruptly cuts to Duncan projectile defecating behind a tree.
“Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise,” Martin, 77, said of the crude scene in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“Not to say that my characters don’t take s***s, but I normally don’t write about them at any length,” he clarified. “When I saw the rough cut, I wrote, ‘What is this? Where did this come from? I don’t know if we really need the s***.’ But [showrunner Ira Parker] liked it for whatever reason.”
When asked the reasoning for the explicit scene, Parker explained: “So in the script it reads, ‘Duncan hears the hero theme in his head’ — which wasn’t necessarily going to be the Thrones theme at that moment.
“He was going to hear that call to greatness that we all hear that when we decide we’re going to do something really difficult that we’ve never done before. It’s a little scary and you feel like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna be the guy. I’m gonna do it!’ He picks up the sword. He’s thinking about it.”
Parker added: “But then the reality of doing this, how difficult it is, how scary it is — that turns his guts to water. Because he’s not a hero yet, you know? All we’re trying to say here is that Dunk is not a hero yet.
“He’s just a nervy kid with a nervous stomach — just like me. And as badly as you want to do something great, as soon as you actually have to go off and do it, it becomes trickier. And that’s what the whole season is for him.”
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — which The Independent’s Louis Chilton described as an “odd, body fluid-drenched” and “off-beat” prequel in his paltry two-star review — also stars Finn Bennett, Henry Ashton, Tanzyn Crawford and Daniel Ings.
New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms air Sundays at 9pm E.T. on HBO Max.
