George R.R. Martin was not a fan of the diarrhea scene included in the opening episode of his Game of Thrones spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
In the episode Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk) has a moment of noble resolve to become a knight and enter a tournament as the iconic Game of Thrones theme swells—only for it to cut abruptly to him squatting behind a tree and explosively projectile pooping due to nerves.
Martin reacted to the scene telling The Hollywood Reporter, “Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise.”
“Not to say that my characters don’t take [expletive], but I normally don’t write about them at any length. 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 [expletive].’ But [showrunner Ira Parker] liked it for whatever reason.”
As for why Parker wanted to keep it in the show after Martin’s advice, he 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.”
“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 said. “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.”
Ultimately, while the explosive diarrhea scene delivers a blunt, visceral punch to Dunk’s premature heroic fantasy its graphic excess isn’t required to drive home the essential point. A subtler physical tell, like a sudden grimace, a clenched fist on the sword hilt, a faltering step, or simply cutting away as he ducks behind the tree with a look of dawning dread, could have conveyed the same reality: that Dunk is not a hero yet, but a young, anxious man whose lofty dreams collide painfully with his very human limitations.
More than likely, the decision to keep the full, unsparing depiction owed less to subtle storytelling nuance and more to a deliberate bid for shock value. In an era where prestige TV often competes for attention with ever-escalating edginess, a sudden, graphic bowel movement right after the iconic Game of Thrones theme is an unmistakable attention-grabber—guaranteed to spark conversation, memes, and social-media outrage or delight.
It turns what could have been an earnest and heartfelt moment into a juvenile gag that feels ngineered for memes, social-media clips, and instant buzz rather than fidelity to the character’s humanity or the series’ themes of growth through adversity.
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I have never heard of people suddenly developing explosive diarrhea from nerves. Throwing up, yes. Could have done that and everyone would have sympathized. Or maybe they could have had the actor, you know, ACT and just look fearful from the realization.
“Not to say that my characters don’t take [expletive], but I normally don’t write about them at any length."
I've never read or watched any of the GoT or GoT-related works, but isn't GRMM somewhat infamous for a scene involving this and Daenerys?