Spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon episode 1 and content warning for references to birth trauma and baby loss.
House of the Dragon star Paddy Considine has opened up about the episode 1 birth scene that fans described as ‘triggering’ and ‘traumatic’, admitting that he wasn’t initially ‘sure’ about it.
In the premiere of the Game of Thrones prequel series, viewers watched as Queen Aemma Arryn (Sian Brooke) died on the childbirth bed after undergoing a forced C-section, as her devastated husband King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy) watched heartbroken.
Some people have criticised the fact that the content warning at the start of the instalment didn’t include mention of birth trauma, while Sian revealed that the moment was a ‘bloodbath’ to film, comparing it to a ‘horror movie’.
Hot Fuzz star Paddy has shared that ‘those were hard days filming’ that particular moment, saying that while ‘it’s all make believe’, it was ‘tough to shoot’.
‘It was very emotional. In fact, it was a lot more brutal and a lot more emotional than it ends up in the final episode. And I wasn’t sure about that when I first saw it,’ he said, according to Insider.
‘Maybe it was too much because Viserys is utterly devastated, and maybe that was too much to show early on. I think they really cut it down really well.’
Paddy recollected there being ‘a lot of tears’ shared between him and his co-star Sian, as he praised her for ‘going through the physicality of everything’ during the devastating scene.
In the episode, King Viserys is informed that Queen Aemma is struggling to give birth because the baby is breech.
The Maester informs him that he has to make a terrible decision – to either leave his wife and baby’s fates in the hands of the gods or allow the attendants to cut directly into Queen Aemma’s womb using a technique that’s taught at the Citadel.
Ultimately, Viserys decides to save the baby, and his wife dies from the resulting blood loss, as the bed underneath her is soaked.
However, at her funeral, it emerges that the baby – a boy named Baelon – also died after just a few hours.
Co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik recently revealed that they showed the birth scene to ‘as many women as possible’ in order to determine whether it was ‘too violent’.
‘We did make a point of showing it to as many women as possible and asked the very question: “Was this too violent for you.” And unanimously, the response was “no”. Often the response was: “If anything, it needs to be more,”’ he said.
House of the Dragon next airs on Monday at 2am on Sky Atlantic and NOW.
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