Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo (Credits: ©2016 Home Box Office, Inc. All)
Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau really wasn’t a fan of Emilia Clarke’s ‘tough and degrading’ rape scene in season one.
During the first chapter in the fantasy epic, Emilia’s character Daenerys Targaryen is raped by her husband Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) on their wedding night.
Game of Thrones creator and author George R.R. Martin has since slammed HBO for changing the original storyline, which in the books saw the couple having very much consensual sex.
And it turns out Jaime Lannister star Nikolaj was just as appalled by the storyline change.
‘For Emilia to play that in series one was really tough and degrading because what that character goes through is horrific,’ the 50-year-old told The Times on Sunday.
The Danish-born actor went on to suggest Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) – easily the most intelligent and best player in Game of Thrones – was never quite seen as an equal because she was a woman, even when she eventually took her seat on the Iron Throne and ruled over King’s Landing.
‘Cersei, too, was never looked upon as an equal to her brother just because of gender,’ he continued.
‘But then she rises to the top, and you could argue that the way those two women turned out was because of being raised in this horrific way.’
In the same interview, Nikolaj also mocked his ‘diva’ co-stars, but heaped endless praise on the late Dame Diana Rigg, who died last month, aged 82.
Game of Thrones swiftly fell from being hailed as the greatest show on earth to the most disappointing over the course of its sex episode final season, forever tarnishing its legacy.
Fans set up a furious petition demanding season eight was rewritten, amassing almost two million signatures.
And Nikolaj himself actually joked he ‘almost donated’ to one particular petition calling for a new ending because ‘so many people wanted it’.
Game of Thrones is available to stream on NOW TV.
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