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'House of the Dragon's Emily Carey was initially 'scared' about Alicent Hightower’s sex scene
Having an intimacy coordinator on set made things a lot easier for the actor.
The latest episode of House of the Dragon had more than one memorable sex scene in it.
**SPOILER WARNING! Sex-related spoilers for House of the Dragon Episode 4, “King of the Narrow Sea,” lie below!**
There were the entanglements that Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) had with both her Uncle Daemon (Matt Smith) and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), and we also viewed a scene of young Alicent Hightower being called by the king for a late night conjugal visit, much to her resigned chagrin.
In an interview with Newsweek, Emily Carey, who plays the young Alicent and uses she/they pronouns, talked about how they were initially “scared” of doing a sex scene with their character’s husband, King Viserys, played by decades-older actor, Paddy Consdine.
"It scared me, because at that point I still hadn't met Paddy, I didn't know how much of a joy he was and how easy he was going to make [the scene], and all I saw was, you know, a 47-year-old man and me, I was a bit concerned,” Carey admitted.
Carey emphasized, however, how the show’s intimacy coordinator was “a massive help” during those scenes.
"Having that outlet of the intimacy coordinator, to be able to talk everything through and not be shunned, or not feel awkward, or not feel like 'Oh, this isn't your job. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable but can I ask you...' it was never any of that, it was just that open dialogue,” Carey said, before adding, "It was an amazing thing, and it was empowering being on that set as a young girl and being treated the same as all of these very established men. It was great, I think they approached this in the best way they could have done."
Those of you who have read George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood know that things heat up for Alicent in the upcoming years. “She's very acutely aware of the Game of Thrones, and she's aware of the world that she's in and where she sits in that world,” Carey said of their character.
We’ll have to see how Alicent navigates the political machinations when new episodes of House of the Dragon air Sundays on HBO and HBO Max at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Looking for less sex-filled fantasy adventures? Stream the entire eight-film Harry Potter saga on Peacock.
