Milly Alcock and Matt Smith as Rhaenyra Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen. (Photo: HBO)House of the Dragon co-creator Ryan Condal, co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik and episode four director Clare Kilner have spoken about the sex scenes featuring Rhaenyra Targaryen, and how they filmed them from a female gaze. House of the Dragon is a spinoff of HBO’s Game of Thrones, which attracted controversy throughout its eight-season run for its depiction of violence against women.
Surprisingly, not too many GoT episodes were directed by women, and episode four of House of the Dragon marks the first time that a woman has been at the helm of an episode on the spinoff series. House of the Dragon appears to be actively addressing some of the criticisms directed at GoT’s handling of gender politics.
Talking about the shocking scene in which Daemon Targaryen lures his niece Rhaenyra into a brothel, and then proceeds to get consensually intimate with her, Sapochnik said that they had conversations about her being a participant, but not the perpetrator. “The idea that this is actually abuse felt really important to explore, but we put aside that because Daemon is her uncle and because that is the Targaryen custom,” he said.
Learning to shoot from the female gaze, as described by Director Clare Kilner. pic.twitter.com/FZtIEgxzp1
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Director Clare Kilner said that she has grown up watching sex scenes shot from the male point-of-view. She said, “As a woman, I have to really think about how I want to shoot it, because the go-to images are the ones I grew up with, which aren’t necessarily from a woman’s point-of-view. It was really important for it to be a scene where people were equally enjoying themselves, freeing themselves, from the constraints of the world they’ve been living in.” Kilner said that Daemon, in the scene, wanted to control Rhaenyra, but when he realised that she was enjoying herself as well, he walked away in a huff. “I think what that says is that young women want sex as much as young men,” the director added.
Milly Alcock, who plays Rhaenyra on the show, said, “He thinks it’s shocking to her, but she doesn’t just get shocked, she gets excited by it and when it happens… he has nothing. And he basically can’t handle not being in charge or in control.” Ryan Condal added, “He awakens something in her which is, her perception of sex as a pleasure, she comes home and Ser Criston Cole is the nearest person available. It’s against his oath, but he’s also carried a torch for her and that’s it! Everything changes from that point forward for Rhaenyra.”
House of the Dragon has aired four episodes so far. It’s the first in a series of planned spinoffs of the massively popular Game of Thrones.