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House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock says sexual violence in Game of Thrones made her ‘uncomfortable’

Actor said HBO epic was ‘rightly criticised’ for some of its storylines

Ellie Harrison
Friday 02 September 2022 17:34 BST
House of the Dragon, Trailer

House of the Dragonstar Milly Alcock has shared her views on the sexual violence shown inGame of Thrones.

The fantasy epic, which ran on HBO from 2011 to 2019, became contentious for the amount of storylines that contained sexual violence against women.

One of the lead actors in the show, Emilia Clarke, also revealed that she felt overwhelmed by what she described as the “f*** ton of nudity” in the first season of Game of Thrones.

Alcock, 22, plays Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in the new spin-off, which its creators have insisted contains much less sex.

When asked about whether the sexual violence in Game of Thrones and Clarke’s accounts of her time on the series made her “wince”, she told The Times: “Yes, it did make me feel uncomfortable. But that was such a different time, pre-#MeToo. I’m very happy to be a part of something that redeems those aspects that it was rightly criticised for.”

She hasn’t seen all of the 10-part first season of House of the Dragon, but said: “From my understanding there’s no violence against women, because it doesn’t aid the storyline.”

While the new series is more progressive than Game of Thrones, Alcock’s co-star Matt Smith did recently say he found himself questioning the number of sex scenes that were required while filming the HBO series.

Read The Independent’s recap of the latest episode here.

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