When it comes to showcasing extreme violence on TV, very few shows come close to HBO’s fantasy epic Game of Thrones. The series reached new heights of popularity during its decade-long run. However, it also set new trends when it came to showing torture and punishment on-screen. There’s not a single Game of Thrones fan who doesn’t remember Lena Headey’s character Cersei’s brutal and humiliating ‘Walk of Shame’ scene, with Hannah Waddingham’s Septa Unella following her with the famous ‘Shame’ chant. Two years after the show wrapped up, the two ladies have finally decided to get together and chat about the horrific scene that followed later.
We are talking about Cersei’s revenge scene when she’s ‘wineboarding’ Unella as a punishment for torturing her during her time in captivity under the High Sparrow in Season 6. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the duo reminisced what really happened on set that day.
“My first day ever on Thrones was standing at the top of those stairs,” says Waddingham. “My daughter had popped out maybe nine weeks previously, so I didn’t even know what my name was that day. And I said to you, ‘Oh, my God, this is so epic.’… ‘Oh, my God, do you ever get used to this?’ And you were so cool about it all. And I thought I want to be like her when I grow up.”
Headey added, “I think I was probably terrified about being semi-naked for two days in front of 6,000 people.”
“A lot of people probably had the horn, as well, looking at you!” quips Waddingham.
“I wanted to ask you, which we never really talk about because I think both of us found it quite traumatic at the time: Our waterboarding, or rather wineboarding, scenes,” Waddingham says. “People are always quite shocked that that actually did happen in reality and there was nothing CGI’d. One thing I’ve said a lot is that both of us were quite uncomfortable about it, but as with all these things, you know that they’re not actually going to kill you so you just get on with it and do it. It made wicked telly and I just wondered what your take on all that was, because I think you found it quite difficult too.”
“Yes, that was, for you, horrendous,” says Headey. “Someone else asked me about that the other day and I was like, you know, as an actor we all have boundaries or no boundaries. And no boundaries are obviously very thrilling when you can go to a place… but something like that when you’re tied down [during filming for 10 hours], it made me feel horrendous doing that scene with you.”
“I have to say one thing that that traumatic experience — and you walking through the streets practically with your nunny out — gave us was that you and I absolutely [became incredibly close],” says Waddingham. “And I was really nervous joining you [on Game of Thrones] because you were like queen lady of the ladies and I was some knobhead who had popped a baby out nine weeks previously.”
“Well, and then you met me and you realized [that I was an] equal knobhead!” laughs Headey.
What do you think about the traumatic wineboarding scene? Tell us in the comments below!
