The showrunner for HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff has revealed the reason for pivoting away from the show’s iconic opening music and diving into a shocking season opener that left fans and the original creator shook.
“That was a bit of a surprise,” Martin, author of the books that inspired the Emmy-winning HBO series and its prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, told The Hollywood Reporter about a scene in which a young knight interrupts the opening theme with graphic projectile defecation.
Ser Duncan, portrayed by Peter Claffey, is first shown grieving the death of his mentor before deciding to enter a jousting tournament. The moment of his decision is set to the Game of Thrones theme, which is abruptly cut off as Duncan begins to defecate.
“Not to say that my characters don’t take s--ts, but I normally don’t write about them at any length,” Martin said, explaining that the showrunner, Ira Parker, “liked” the idea for “some reason.”
According to Parker, the moment was meant to show that “Dunk is not a hero yet,” and that his moment of decision “turns his guts to water,” as he chooses to pick up the sword and enter the tournament.
“He’s just a nervy kid with a nervous stomach—just like me," Parker told The Hollywood Reporter.
The first episode of the new series, inspired by Martin’s three novellas, The Hedge Knight, about Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg, takes place roughly 100 years before Game of Thrones. It premiered on HBO on Sunday and will run for six episodes.
Viewers of the first episode, like Martin, were surprised by the unusual and graphic opening scene, with many sharing their reactions on social media.
“The way they skipped over an intro to him pooping by that tree was DIABOLICAL,” one viewer posted on X, while another noted that they “didn’t need to see that.”
Others had expected a title card, which appears after the theme song in the original series, and were taken aback by the scene.
“Me hearing the GOT theme song thinking it was gonna cut to a cool title card, instead it was just Dunk s----ing,” one viewer wrote.
Some viewers said they thought the scene was placed early to grab attention, but noted that it was not the kind of action they expected from the show.
“Good news is there is action early in the show,” one viewer wrote, adding, “Bad news is it’s just the hedge knight pooping.”
Parker, who co-created the show with Martin, acknowledged that the series takes a slower pace, urging viewers to “give us a second.”
The premiere scored 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with the next episode set to air January 25.
