House Of The Dragon star Olivia Cooke has revealed not all of the sex scenes she filmed made it into the final edit.
The British actor played Alicent Hightower, who becomes the second wife of King Viserys I Targaryen, in the first season of the Game Of Thrones prequel, and reprises the role in the second run, which is airing now.
In a new interview with Elle, Olivia opened up about some of the show’s infamous sex scenes, recalling one in particular that wound up on the cutting room floor.
“It was messy as fuck,” she said of the “animalistic” and “carnal” sequence. “It wasn’t beautiful, and that was really fun to do.”
On why the scene ultimately wasn’t used, she claimed that showrunner Ryan Condal felt “we weren’t learning any more about the characters”.
“I disagree with [that] slightly,” she added. “But it’s okay. It’s his show.”
Asked more generally about House Of The Dragon’s sex scenes, Olivia shared: “I thought there’d be way more, and so I’m relieved that when it has been used for me, it’s showing Alicent being pleasured, which is amazing and doesn’t feel gratuitous. It feels like we’re telling a story.”
Olivia recently gave an interview to The Times, in which she shared how she really felt about playing a grandmother in the hit fantasy show, despite only being in her early 30s.
“I have really complicated feelings towards it,” she admitted. “If they can create dragons, they could have made me look younger – and then older. Or maybe they should have cast actors in their forties?”
“It’s strange,” Olivia added. “I bristle a bit because the years between being a teenager and now a grandma on screen were so short for me. There’s real reticence to see women age on screen.”
House Of The Dragon airs on Mondays on Sky and Now.