The scene Maisie Williams wasn't even allowed to watch in 'Game of Thrones'
Game of Thrones stars -- they're just like us! Especially when it comes to being mortified at having to watch those graphic sex scenes with their parents.
Maisie Williams gave an interview to The Australian recently and described just how weird it was to work around the nearly NC-17 levels of raciness when she first joined the show at 14-year-old.
Her family did their best to protect her underage eyes, especially with one particular scene in Season 1:
"Williams' and [Sophie] Turner's mothers stopped shielding them from the show's graphic sex and violence early on, when they debated taking the girls out of a read-through of a scene featuring two girls 'going at it' — trying to keep their daughters in the dark only served to pique their interest. 'The sex was just quite embarrassing and awkward for us,' Williams says, matter-of-factly." [via Business Insider]
Williams went on to say that, “Most of the gory stuff I was part of, and it’s not scary when you’re there shooting it. No one’s really getting their face ripped off. So it’s quite exciting really.”
The sex scene in question is in all likelihood the infamous one between Ros and another brothel worker, where Littlefinger "trains" them in the art of oral sex. Even among Game of Thrones sex scenes, this one stands out as the ultimate example of "sexposition," where exposition is made more interesting to audiences with some gratuitous fingerbanging.
Sophie Turner has mentioned the scene in the past as well. She was fifteen years old in Season 1, and in 2017 told The Sunday Times, "The first time I ever found out about oral sex was from reading the Game of Thrones script. I said, 'Wow! People do that?' That's fascinating! I guess that was my sex education."
Now, Williams says she more comfortably watches episodes of the show next to her grandma on the couch. But even then, she needs some liquid help to diffuse the tension.
"Bless her," Williams said. "My mum just plies her with more and more gin."
Topics Game Of Thrones
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
