The actor playing Daemon Targaryen in the upcoming House of the Dragon, Matt Smith, believes there might be a few too many steamy scenes in the series, noting how this follow up to Game of Thrones would do best to stick to the source material. Smith apparently considers that including all of this raunchy content is “diluting the books.”
The news comes from a recent interview with Rolling Stone. When asked about the amount of sexual content in the show, Smith noted that his character was involved in "slightly too much if you ask me.”
“You do find yourself asking ‘do we need another sex scene?’ And they’re like ‘yeah, we do.’ I guess you have to ask yourself ‘what are you doing?’ Are you representing the books or are you diluting the books to represent the time? And I actually think it’s your job to represent the books truthfully and honestly as they were written,” Smith remarked about the show.
Game of Thrones quickly attracted criticism for its often gratuitous amount of sexual content. The actress playing Yara Greyjoy in the show, Gemma Whelan, once called the sex scenes "a frenzied mess” for example. “There was a scene in a brothel with a woman and she was so exposed that we talked together about where the camera would be and what she was happy with,” Whelan recalled. “A director might say ‘bit of boob biting, then slap her bum and go,’ but I’d always talk it through with the other actor.”
In addition to Whelan, the actress behind Daenerys Targaryen, Emilia Clarke, previously noted that given her experience in Game of Thrones, she will never again do nudity. “I'd done nudity before and was concerned with being labeled for doing it again," Clarke pointed out. "No regrets.”
House of the Dragon is based on Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, a tale taking place during the conflict known as the Dance of Dragons. The show is currently scheduled to premiere on August 21, 2022. House of the Dragon will feature a ten episode first season.