Actress Gemma Whelan, who played Yara Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, has said that the show’s sex scenes were “a frenzied mess”.
During an interview with The Guardian, she recalled her time filming intimate scenes on Game of Thrones where actors were left to get on with it.
“They used to just say, ‘When we shout action, go for it!’, and it could be a sort of frenzied mess,” she said. “But between the actors there was always an instinct to check in with each other.”
On the hit HBO fantasy show, Whelan played the bisexual Lady Yara Greyjoy, who shared more than a few sex scenes throughout the show’s 8 seasons.
“There was a scene in a brothel with a woman and she was so exposed that we talked together about where the camera would be and what she was happy with,” she explained. “A director might say, ‘Bit of boob biting, then slap her bum and go!’, but I’d always talk it through with the other actor.”
During the second season of Game of Thrones in 2012, Whelan performed one of the show’s most infamous sex scenes – a horseback scene involving Yara’s brother, Theon, played by Alfie Allen. “Alfie was very much, ‘Is this OK? How are we going to make this work?’"
Whelan explains that the addition of intimacy directors – film set employees specifically brought into help actors feel comfortable with love or sex scenes – has improved the process on other projects. "With intimacy directors, it’s choreography – you move there, I move there, and permission and consent is given before you start. It is a step in the right direction.”
Recently, Game of Thrones star Kit Harrington described “mental health” issues he faced while filming the show, which led to him taking time away from acting. Hannah Waddingham, who played Unella, also called the filming of one scene in the show "the worst day of my life". Game of Thrones is set to return to TV in 2022 with the upcoming prequel series, House of the Dragon.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.