Game of Thrones season 7 episode 2: Yara Greyjoy kissing Ellaria Sand was improvised, say actors

'Who wouldn’t want to kiss her? I mean, come on!'

Season seven of Game of Thrones is truly underway, the second episode seeing the Queens of Westeros make their first moves towards seizing/keeping the Iron Throne.

**Spoilers for the sped ‘Stormborn’ ahead**

Moments before the climatic battle between Euron Greyjoy’s fleet and Danny’s, there was a brief moment of pause as Yara (Gemma Whelan) and Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) began kissing.

According to the actors, the intimate moment between the two (which featured the cringe-worthy line “a foreign invasion is under way”) was completely improvised by the actors.

“It wasn’t directed that we would kiss,” Whelan told Entertainment Weekly. “It just seemed like something we should do. We led it, very much so. It was meant to be a suggestion [of flirting] and then it became more sexual than we expected because it seemed right.

“There was only a skeleton crew working because the rig could only take so much weight, so we were left very much on our own. And who wouldn’t want to kiss Indira? I mean, come on!”

There was, however, one person a little reluctant to kiss Varma: Wheelman’s stunt-double. “Gemma had hurt her back so there were some stunts she couldn’t do,” Varma told the publication.

“So I had to start kissing this poor stunt double and she was so terrified! That was quite funny, bless her. I don’t think she’d ever been put in that situation before. She’s used to falling over and being attacked and all the stunts, but to be kissed by an actress was a bit beyond her.”

Whelan added: “I think it’s a wonderful scene and amusing as well — like that look from Yara to Theon that says a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…”

Also during the episode ‘Stormborn’ we saw Grey Worm and Missandei finally act upon their impulses, the Sand Snakes perish, and Sam attempt to cure Ser Jorah’s greyscale. Read our review and recap here.