A star of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is weighing in on the controversial feud with Breaking Bad fans!
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has elicited a score of strong reactions from both Game of Thrones fans and mainstream critics. However, the strangest reaction came when Episode 5, “In the Name of the Mother,” aired. The fantastic episode has Dunk (Peter Claffey) engaging in a Trial of Seven, where he and a group of allies face off against Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett) to prove Dunk's innocence for assaulting the Targaryen prince to protect the puppeteer Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford) and “kidnapping” Egg (Dexter Soll Ansell).
The episode was easily the best of the first season, a wild brawl that had fans and critics alike going wild. However, an unexpected move was that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms fans descended on IMDb and voted it one the best-reviewed TV episodes of all time, with a rare 10/10 score. That put it in the vaunted company of “Ozymandias,” the acclaimed episode of Breaking Bad, which long held out as one of the greatest TV episodes ever made and few to claim a 10/10 on the site.
That set off a war between the two fandoms, as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Breaking Bad fans were soon “review bombing” each other's favorite show while the online diatribes reached a fever pitch.
Speaking to The Playlist, Peter Claffey discussed the strange feud, and how he thinks it got out of control.
“That was one of those weird moments where I’m in love with 'Breaking Bad,' one of my favorite things ever. And I try not to look at any of this stuff on Instagram or anything, just try and keep away from it as much as possible, apart from the odd comment here and there, and see some really lovely stuff. But yeah, there was a page I’d been following for years. It’s like five million followers. Like a film enthusiast page. And I’ve been following for years just as a fan of movies and stuff. And then my stupid face is on a split screen [post]. And it’s like Dunk getting up in episode five, rising up from the ground and under it on a split screen, is like Bryan Cranston’s falling after Hank dies in 'Ozymandias.'”
It was a bizarre clash of fandoms as both sides argued their episode was superior and some of the rants got a bit personal. Claffey expressed amazement at how this unfolded, and his opinion that both sides needed to cool down.
“[The post] was describing what was going on, and I was like, 'This is insane.' I mean, I couldn’t believe it," he said. "And I actually was just like, I’d rather if the Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad fans would just get along. I mean, Breaking Bad was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen on television. And then the original Game of Thrones series is the same thing. So I think, 'Why don’t we just like big up both of us instead of trying to degrade them?'”
It’s good advice from Claffey, as both fandoms appeared to take this whole thing way too seriously. Both shows are excellent in their own ways, just in different genres. There was no need for the fandoms to take it so personally that one episode was higher-rated than the other and turn this into a war.
Hopefully, fans on both sides listen to Claffey and let this strange fight die down, as it sounds like there’s no animosity between the actual casts and creators. This is one A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms battle that should come to an end.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 is streaming on HBO Max. Season 2 is currently filming, and is expected to premiere sometime in 2027.