Gemma Whelan has revealed what shooting those wild sex scenes for “Game of Thrones” was really like.
Speaking candidly about her experience playing Yara Greyjoy during the most intimate moments on the set of HBO’s beloved TV show, Whelan said the cast were excellent at confirming consent and taking care of each other, despite often going off of limited direction.
“They used to just say, ‘When we shout action, go for it!,’ and it could be a sort of frenzied mess,” Whelan, 40, told the Guardian. “But between the actors there was always an instinct to check in with each other,” said the actress and comedian, whose credits also include “Killing Eve” and “Upstart Crow.”
“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. 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.”
Indeed, actors were “almost literally” simply left to get it on with each other during “Game of Thrones” sex scenes — Yara’s included.
It’s not yet confirmed if Whelan will be involved in the upcoming “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon,” for which only certain details have been revealed to date.
Despite playing the high-profile character, Whelan says she has managed to maintain anonymity in her daily life and is never recognized while out on the street.
“People sometimes say, ‘Do I know you from the bus stop?’ or, ‘Were we at school?’ That’s it really,” she said. For what it’s worth, many of her best-known parts have involved heavy makeup and costumery, to the point that even her own mother — let alone complete strangers — didn’t recognize her in the role.
“Strange they used so much original footage of her!” was her mom’s reaction to Greyjoy’s acting in BBC One’s “The Moorside.” “I said: ‘That’s all me, Mum. There is no original footage.’”