The New Game Of Thrones Series Is Changing How They Handle Sex Scenes
Game of Thrones was known for some wild sex scenes and adult moments, but the new prequel series is going to take sex in a different direction this time around.
During its years-long run on HBO, Game of Thrones didn’t shy away from sex. In fact, if an episode passed in which you didn’t see genitalia (specifically of the male variety), you would count yourself lucky. And for those of us hoping for more storyline and less naked men in the upcoming spinoff, House of the Dragon, it sounds like we may be in luck. The word surrounding the show’s nudity, or lack thereof, is coming directly from its director, Miquel Sapochnik. But that’s the good news.
We know, we know. We didn’t ask you at the top if you wanted the good or the bad news first, we just chose for you, so here’s the bad stuff. According to a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sapochnik said that while there won’t be as much sex in the upcoming series, there will be copious amounts of incestuous relationships playing out on screen. Oh, joy. According to this chat, Sapochnik said that his series aims to use less on-screen sex while still getting the point across as to how sexual situations aren’t massively important to the Targaryen clan. And while he’s claiming that Game of Thrones will still have more sex scenes when everything is said and done, we’re not expecting that to really mean that the lack of nudity will be mind-blowing.
And for those of you at home who are breathing a deep sigh of relief and thinking that we won’t need to watch anymore (or at least less) sexual assaults happen on the new series, think again. This is the one hill that Sapochnik plans to die on. Like its Game of Thrones predecessor, which gave screen time to what we would say was less consensual sex than sexual assault, House of the Dragon plans to do the exact same thing – but with possibly, even more, this time around. Sapochnik commented that the production certainly doesn’t “shy away from it,” going on to say that they even “shine a light” on the atrocity that is sexual assault.
And just like that, the argument surrounding what is necessary when it comes to the Game of Thrones world and sex continues. Sapochnik said that his reason for showing such an ample amount of these scenes is to display the horrible realities of the “time” specifically between men and women. The other side to this coin is that for survivors of sexual assault, these scenes are downright hard to watch. And to say that it was of that period isn’t a totally fair statement as there’s never been a time when people were flying around on dragons. On the other hand, the Middle Ages did exist and disgusting actions like these did take place – but they still do today.
We’ll just need to wait and see just how much sexual assault Sapochnik decides to leave in his final cuts for the spinoff series, but one thing’s for sure – depending on the amount, he could be limiting his viewership by doing so. Take for example the Game of Thrones Season 5 episode, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” in which the sadistic Ramsay Bolton forces Sansa to have sex with him in a clear-cut case of rape. That episode got a lot of pushback and drove a lot of viewers away from the series, not to mention gave actress Sophie Turner a lot of trauma to work through. With fans (like us) of the Game of Thrones universe waiting to see what Sapochnik and his team have come up with, we’re now equal parts excited as we are nervous. We don’t have long to wait as House of the Dragon flies onto HBO on August 21.
