House Of The Dragon Spent Months On One Sex Scene

House of the Dragon star Fabien Frankel says his sex scene with Milly Alcock took seven months to prepare for.

By Matthew Creith | Published

For fans of HBO and the new Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, it is widely understood that the series depicts nudity and sex in graphic light in order to further storylines between various houses and adversaries. Known for pushing the envelope at every turn to mirror much of what Game of Thrones tried to do starting in 2011, the show is filled with fantastic performances from well-regarded actors, particularly those that have graced other critically acclaimed television shows like The Crown and Bates Motel. Now, it appears that one specific sex scene on House of the Dragon took months to coordinate for the actors Fabien Frankel and Milly Alcock, specifically the sequence where Frankel’s character removes his armor in a realistic manner not seen in the franchise before.

According to a report by Entertainment Weekly, 28 year old Fabien Frankel has confirmed that his intimate sex scene with 22 year old Milly Alcock on House of the Dragon took seven months to prepare for, particularly because Frankel concentrated on trying to make the characters have more believable sex than the typical Game of Thrones scene. He told his scene partner and director Clare Kilner that he wanted to “make this human,” and discussed the scene in question for months before they blocked it out. Frankel was apparently appalled by the lack of reality in sex scenes from major Hollywood studios, mainly because these types of scenes are always showing two people sweating in gratuitous manners while still looking beautiful during an act that is often anything but that.

house of the dragon
Milly Alcock and Fabien Frankel in House of the Dragon

The sex scene between Fabien Frankel and Milly Alcock took place in the fourth episode of the first season of House of Dragon entitled “King of the Narrow Sea.” Prior to his role as Ser Criston Cole on the hit HBO television series, Frankel was mostly known to UK audiences for his stage performance in the play The Knowledge in London’s West End, as well as a small role with Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke, Crazy Rich Asians actor Henry Golding, and Michelle Yeoh in the Paul Feig-directed romantic comedy, Last Christmas. Milly Alcock portrays young Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon after having starred in a variety of television series in her native Australia, including the well-known shows Upright and Reckoning.

Since its debut on HBO last month, House of the Dragon has been a showcase for actors trying to capture a little of the magic that Game of Thrones once had when it ran for eight seasons on the network, eventually becoming one of the most watched series in cable network history. Based on the George R.R. Martin novel Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon takes place roughly 200 years before the events of its televised predecessor and focuses largely on the fall of the famous House Targaryen. House of the Dragon stars The Crown’s Matt Smith, Fabien Frankel, Milly Alcock, In America actor Paddy Considine, Ready Player One star Olivia Cooke, and Notting Hill fan favorite Rhys Ifans.