House of the Dragon showrunners reveal they showed THAT controversial childbirth scene to several women before the series premiere
- SPOILERS: There will be SPOILERS for the series premiere of the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon so read on at your own risk
For the first time since Game of Thrones ended its run in 2019, fans returned to Westeros with the new prequel series House of the Dragon, which featured many controversial moments.
One of them was a childbirth scene with Queen Aemma Targaryen (Sian Brooke) and King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) at her side.
Series creator Ryan Condal and his co-showrunner/director Miguel Sapochnik revealed in a new interview with PopSugar that they showed the scene to a number of women to see if it was too violent, though none said it was.
Controversial: For the first time since Game of Thrones ended its run in 2019, fans returned to Westeros with the new prequel series House of the Dragon, which featured many controversial moments
Childbirth: One of them was a childbirth scene with Queen Aemma Targaryen (Sian Brooke) and King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) at her side
Queen Aemma had been trying for years to give King Viserys a son to serve as heir to the Iron Throne, though the only child that survived was Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock).
King Viserys is convinced this time that Aemma will finally give him the male heir to the throne he’s always wanted… but the scene ends with both mother Aemma and son Baelon dead.
After Aemma cannot push the child out of her due to the breech birth, Viserys is told by the Grand Maester (David Horovitch) that the child can survive through a medieval version of a C-section.
King: Queen Aemma had been trying for years to give King Viserys a son to serve as heir to the Iron Throne, though the only child that survived was Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock)
While Visesrys tells the Maester to perform the technique, he doesn’t tell his wife, with the procedure killing her, and while the child initially survived, Baelon died shortly after his mother.
Sapochnik admitted that the scene was the, ‘subject of much debate’ and they shot several different versions of it.
‘It seemed important to highlight something that was the kind of the most traumatic event… it’s what breaks that family apart,’ he said.
Doesn’t tell: While Visesrys tells the Maester to perform the technique, he doesn’t tell his wife, with the procedure killing her, and while the child initially survived, Baelon died shortly after his mother
“And more importantly than anything, Viserys doesn’t give his wife, Aemma, a choice, and that’s something that seems really important,’ he added.
He acknowledged the scene might have made people uncomfortable, revealing, ‘We did make a point of showing it to as many women as possible and asked the very question, “Was this too violent for you?”‘
‘And unanimously, the response was no. Often the response was, “No, if anything, it needs to be more,”‘ Sapochnik said.
More: ‘And unanimously, the response was no. Often the response was, “No, if anything, it needs to be more,”‘ Sapochnik said
‘It’s raising a point that . . . hits a real trigger for women, which is this idea of choice and that she doesn’t get to choose,” Sapochnik says.
‘She’s effectively murdered by her husband. And that is a good indication of the state of play in this world that we’re inhabiting,’ he added.
‘It seemed like this is an appropriate time to draw that parallel visually between the two, the male and the female struggle. One’s fighting on the battlefield, the other’s fighting for survival, sometimes from the person closest to her,’ he added.
Murder: ‘She’s effectively murdered by her husband. And that is a good indication of the state of play in this world that we’re inhabiting,’ he added
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