The creator of the sprawling fantasy universe was just as surprised by the shocking excremental scene as viewers.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms co-creator explains opening poop scene as George R. R. Martin shares reaction

The creator of the sprawling fantasy universe was just as surprised by the shocking excremental scene as viewers.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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January 20, 2026 11:00 a.m. ET

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Peter Claffey as Dunk on 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms'. Credit:

Steffan Hill/HBO

The opening minutes of *Game of Thrones* prequel *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms* ended in s---...literally, but that's the point, according to series co-creator Ira Parker.

In the premiere episode, which aired on HBO and streamed on HBO Max Sunday night, squire Dunk (Peter Claffey) decides to pick up the sword and armor of the late hedge knight he served for years. The iconic *Game of Thrones* theme music begins to play as the camera closes in on Dunk's face, but then we immediately cut to a shot of him taking a dump behind a tree.

"A lot of people are gonna take it the wrong way," Parker tells **. "It was never meant as a cheap gag to just show a butt that's [pooping] on television, that we really are trying to get into as fully as possible Dunk's headspace, which is so interior in the novellas that we have to find creative ways to get out there, whether it's Dunk talking to the horses, whether it's in conversations with Egg [Dexter Sol Ansell], or whether it's seeing Dunk's nerves manifest themselves physically as they do here in that way."**

Claffey stars as Dunk, who travels to the Ashford tourney in the hopes of winning some coin as a knight. He comes across a young, bald, quick-witted boy named Egg who wants to squire for him. These events take place several decades after the events of HBO's other *Game of Thrones* prequel, *House of the Dragon*, and well before the events of the flagship TV series.

Peter Claffey as Dunk on 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms'.

Steffan Hill/HBO

"Like so many of us, when we have those feelings of greatness that call to something else and it's going to be really difficult and challenging, we are soon then hit with the reality of doing that," Parker explains. "The dream falls away and we get butterflies in our stomach, that feeling of nervousness, which Dunk then finds himself very quickly in an unheroic, crouched position."

The *Game of Thrones* theme is "the ultimate hero music," he continues. "That's the ultimate call. That's what he aspires towards. But he's not that yet. He's not the hero. He's not capable of that yet, and he knows that inside of himself. So that's why his body reacts the way that it does."

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In a separate interview with *The Hollywood Reporter*, author and HBO's *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms* co-creator George R. R. Martin shared his reaction to the moment.

"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," he said. "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 [Parker] liked it for whatever reason.”

This won't be the last unheroic moment we get from Dunk in the six-episode first season. New episodes of *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms* arrive every Sunday night on HBO and HBO Max.

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