House Of The Dragon’s Emily Carey Joins The Chorus Weighing In On The Series’ Squirmy Intimate Scenes

One particularly uncomfortable “House of the Dragon” relationship is between Emily Carey’s teenage Alicent and Paddy Considine’s substantially older Viserys Targaryen. The duo share several intimate scenes, and in an interview with Newsweek, Carey revealed their initial apprehension about filming these sequences. “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,” they said.

However, Carey noted that their worries were calmed through discussions with the show’s intimacy coordinator (a major difference from “Game of Thrones,” which lacked such a role until 2018). “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,” they said.

Carey’s experience lines up with other actors. Milly Alcock, who portrays Rhaenyra Targaryen, told Newsweek that her incestuous sex scenes with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) were completely comfortable to film. While Smith expressed reservations regarding the show’s intimate scenes, he noted in a roundtable reported on by Screen Rant that they were properly filmed. “We had an intimacy coordinator, and that all felt quite good and safe and stuff,” the actor said.