Full frontal male nudity is having a major mainstream media moment

A Game of Thrones prequel, a zombie horror film, and a medical procedural might not seem like they have much in common, but A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and The Pitt season 2 all share a common energy. They have the swagger that comes from continuing a celebrated series without any shrinkage in quality. They’re boldly thrusting into theaters and living rooms with tight scripts filled with deep characters. Also, they’ve all put giant dongs on screen.

Male genitalia is rare enough in TV and film that seeing a penis in a mainstream movie or TV show is still surprising, but seeing three on screen this January — and specifically, three extremely prominent specimens — was downright shocking. But much as South Park made Donald Trump’s micropenis a talking character to ensure it couldn’t be censored out of episodes, each of these dongs speaks to its respective project’s greater themes.

[Ed. note: Graphic, NSFW images ahead featuring full frontal male nudity.]

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode 2, “Hard Salt Beef,” repeatedly flashes back to the time that Dunk (Peter Claffey) spent squiring for the hedge knight Ser Arlan Pennytree (Danny Webb). Arlan was a man of few words who died of age and illness in the wilds, with only his squire and horses to mourn him. As Dunk heads to a jousting tournament and visits all the noble lords in their richly appointed tents, no one remembers or honors Pennytree’s service.

Image: HBO

Yet the flashback that opens the episode shows that Ser Pennytree had something no amount of gold can buy. He’s seen casually walking out of a tent where a naked woman is sleeping, and taking a leak, providing a full view of his 10-inch penis, a “formidable weapon” created with a very realistic prosthetic.

Showrunner Ira Parker told Entertainment Weekly that he needed to give Pennytree “one special thing” to make up for his sad story. Pennytree’s giant dong is also meant to embody the energy and grit that got him through so many tough battles, including a joust with Prince Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel), who remembers fighting him and acknowledges Dunk’s claim as a newly minted hedge knight.

The “monstrously hung zombie” Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) was one of the standout characters of 2025’s 28 Years Later. The “alpha infected” shows off his prowess by ripping the spines out of his victims, screaming, and running around fully nude. He plays an even bigger role in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, where he gets addicted to the morphine darts Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) uses to tranquilize him, and spends a bunch of time getting high and chilling with the good doctor.

First look at 28 years later samson. He kneels in water, and lets out a roar.

While Samson is absolutely terrifying when he first shows up in 28 Years Later, Kelson treats him like a primate researcher encountering a silverback gorilla. He gives the killer a Biblical name to represent his size and strength, and views him with affection rather than horror. The action gets even more Biblical in The Bone Temple as the morphine soothes Samson’s Rage Virus-addled mind.

As his memories and capacity for speech return, Samson feels the need to cover up his nakedness like Adam did after eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The virus turned him into a murderous animal, but Kelson’s treatments make him a man again.

The Pitt is a relentless show, following an emergency-room shift in real time as an overworked team of doctors and nurses treat a wide variety of cases. The Golden Globe-winning series combines humor, humanity, and absolute horror, and one case in season 2, episode 2 embodies all three. A man (Christopher T. Wood) celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary overdoses on erectile dysfunction meds and needs surgery to ease his erection.

Dr. Mel King (Taylor Dearden) and Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) use a syringe to drain blood from the errect penis of a patient (Christopher T. Wood)

This patient’s penis isn’t as massive as Samson’s or Pennytree’s, but it is shocking to see a fully erect penis from various angles, including in a shot where it’s being punctured with a needle and drained of blood. Attending physician Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) oversees the treatment, and Moafi told Variety that she still has nightmares about that scene. That’s saying something, given that this season (and even this episode) has a lot of gorier moments.

On-screen nudity always sparks some debate, but none of these scenes feel gratuitous. It may be hard to top these great moments, but January’s run of male genitalia could signal an easing of the taboos against penises on screen. This month showed that no matter the genre or medium, few things grab attention like a great big dong.