It’s been two days, and we’re still chuckling about the opening scene of “Hard Salt Beef,” the second episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Sure, the projectile poop in the season premiere will live on in infamy, but the sight of Ser Arlan of Pennytree casually airing out his enormous manhood is lodged forever in the memory of series protagonist Dunk—and is now similarly entrenched in the mind of every viewer, too.
Showrunner Ira Parker has already weighed in on the moment, explaining that Ser Arlan, who’s portrayed by Danny Webb, had such a gritty life as a hedge knight that he wanted to give the man “his one special thing.” (Parker added a Boogie Nights reference on the very slight chance readers didn’t get what he meant.)
Speaking of Dirk Diggler, that famously oversized character will likely come to mind when you behold this Instagram post from Waldo Mason, the show’s prosthetic designer.
“Very proud to have forged Ser Arlan [of] Pennytree’s formidable weapon for the opening moments of this episode!” Mason writes, giving credit to the whole team who helped create the 10-inch prosthetic penis. He also shouts out Webb for his dedication to making the illusion look as realistic as possible despite the “intimate application process”; the end result, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms audiences can agree, was a gasp-inducingly great success.
Props also for the discreet “tubing for urination,” which made the whole thing look even more believable.
You can scroll through the photos on Mason’s post to see the mold itself (NSFW), as well as tastefully pixelated stills of Webb getting into character (ahem) behind the scenes, and the sight of Ser Arlan emerging stark naked in the episode itself. (Really extended pixelation on that last shot.)
So far A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is two-for-two with shocking moments relating to bodily functions. What might episode three have in store? Find out Sunday, when the next episode arrives on HBO and HBO Max.
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