Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has admitted the reaction to a controversial scene in the fourth season of Game of Thrones left him "shocked", in a new interview with GQ magazine.
Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Game of Thrones / Credit: HBO
With his character Jaime Lannister seeming to force himself on his sister and incestuous lover Cersei (Lena Headey), fans were left disgusted and in uproar because of the scene.
Speaking to GQ he said: "I was sure there was going to be a lot of talk about it. But I assumed it was going to be about the fact we had sex in front of our dead son. It became more about, 'Was it rape?', which shocked us. I sound naive, but I never saw it like that. It was as if Game of Thrones was now social commentary.
"I was like, 'Really?', and suddenly [the show] was pro-rape. I'm not going to talk about that because it's a sensitive topic. But it's a television show with a storyline featuring two people who have had a dysfunctional relationship. It's clearly not healthy for either of them - that scene being just another example - and suddenly a scene in a television show is used as an argument in an overall political discussion."
The controversy was previously addressed by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin, who said in April last year: "The scene was always intended to be disturbing... but I do regret if it has disturbed people for the wrong reasons."
Game of Thrones season five will launch on the same day - April 12 - in 170 territories. Sky Atlantic in the UK is to premiere the new season a day later.
Tagged in Game Of Thrones