One of the Game of Thrones franchise, and the cast and crew are just as dedicated to make each one as impactful and meaningful as possible, perhaps giving one reason the House of the Dragon actor Fabien Frankel spent quite a time working on his one intimate scene for the Thrones prequel series.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Frankel shared that he spent seven months working on his character Ser Criston Cole’s Episode 4 sex scene with Milly Alcock’s Rhaenyra Targaryen. “It was something we talked about over seven months. It was one of the first things I was very keen to talk about,” Frankel said.
“The big thing for me was about it not feeling like another gratuitous, sweat-glistening-off-their-back sex scene, ’cause it’s just not like that,” he continued. “Anyone who’s ever had sex will tell you sex ain’t that beautiful. It isn’t some picturesque, amazing thing. It’s awkward, especially when you are young. There’s an uncomfortability that one has to sit in, and there’s a discovery and understanding of each other’s bodies — not to mention the practical side of the whole thing.”
According to Frankel, he spent months texting Alcock and episode director Clare Kilner about the scene and asking them, “How do we make this human? I remember just saying to them, ‘There’s no way this armor comes off without the help,'” Frankel detailed why he fought to have the scene dragged out with the long process of his character Ser Criston Cole taking off his armor.
He added, “Knights would have squires, and squires would take off their armor. For even a world-quality squire, you’ve got 10 minutes to get the armor off. Let’s say five, maybe at best. There’s no way Rhaenyra and Cole are gonna take that armor off in 10 seconds. So I was like, ‘Well, you have to have that in. It’s important that that’s what it is. It’s important that it’s a struggle to get the armor off.’ It’s heavy. How do we get the buckle off? How do we get the boots off?”
“These are all the things I really cared about, ’cause they take away this sort of, to my mind, archaic sexual sex scenes that have existed for so long in television and film, and make it feel real and how it would be,” he concluded. There’s now a time jump in the series and from Episode 6 onwards Emma D’Arcy takes on the role of Rhaenyra Targaryen following Milly Alcock’s departure.
Based on George R.R. Martin's book “Fire and Blood”, the 10-episode series is the turbulent story of the House of Targaryen, set 200 years before the events that captivated global audiences in Game of Thrones. The series is a gripping saga that takes us deep into the extraordinary world of Westeros and explores the Targaryen family - the all-powerful dragon riders who are the seemingly invincible rulers of the seven kingdoms. Bitter rivalries, jealousy, lust, the quest for power, and betrayal will tear the Targaryens apart and threaten to destroy a dynasty that has ruled unchallenged for a century.
Directed by Miguel Sapochnik, Clare Kilner, Geeta Vasant Patel and Greg Yaitanes, with George R. R. Martin, Ryan Condal, and Miguel Sapochnik along with Sara Hess, Vince Gerardis and Ron Schmidt, helming as executive producers. Even though the series is a prequel to Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon has an individual storyline with new characters played by an impressive cast, including Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, and Sonoya Mizuno.
