The One House of the Dragon Scene Even Matt Smith Found "Icky"
If you thought you found some scenes in House of the Dragon a bit "icky", spare a thought for the actors involved.
In fact, even Matt Smith has admitted that he found one scene a bit icky – and funny.
The scene I'm referring to is, of course, the one in which Daemon Targaryen (played by the former Dr. Who actor) takes his 15-year-old niece, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) to a brothel. Naturally, this is a slightly jarring concept for modern-day viewers – and actors.
Smith said of the scene to the Los Angeles Times, "It's hard. You're constantly questioning it. But you have to take away the modern-day morality…(because)…the story requires that these two characters do that."
He praised the intimacy coordinator who he said was "really good", not just for this scene but for sex scenes throughout the show.
Despite getting the ick about the scene, Smith revealed that he and Alcock were "pissing our pants the whole time, laughing". And why not. They were, after all, recording an incestuous, creepy (by non-Targaryen standards of any time), and abusive scene, while standing in a room full of naked actors pretending to have sex in various different ways.
And when you put it like that, you can see the funny side.
Which is just what the two stars of the show did. Smith said they just, "cut through the really weird tension of the room and (made) jokes."
He is even on record asking whether all the sex scenes in the show are really necessary. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said, "You do find yourself asking, 'Do we need another sex scene?' And they're like, 'Yea, we do."
It's all a far cry from his time as Dr. Who.
But Daemon and Rhaenyra do eventually end up having sex on the beach (and I'm not talking about the cocktail here), in a scene that is deemed less icky by the fact that it doesn't involve a whole load of cavorting strangers around the two. And yes, they're still uncle and niece (and no, I am in no way saying that makes it ok), but at least by this time, the whole age difference thing ceases to be quite so icky as neither of them is underage.
Of course, Smith would have known the minute he got the call for a Game of Thrones prequel, that there was a potential for a few kit-off scenes and slightly bizarre relationships – but taking his niece to a brothel and almost doing the deed was maybe a little more icky than he might have imagined.