George R.R. Martin Would Be Proud of How Much Thought Ser Criston Cole Put Into His Sex Scene on ‘House of the Dragon

Sex may not be as big of as a priority for HBO’s House of the Dragon as it was for Game of Thrones, but there is still enough of it to titillate audiences, especially those wanting Rhaenyra/Daemon to finally seal the deal. In episode four, we got a sex scene between Princess Rhaenyra and her personal guard, Ser Criston Cole, played by Fabien Frankel. He recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the seven months of preparation to get that sex scene right.

Spoilers for House of the Dragon!

“Anyone who’s ever had sex will tell you sex ain’t that beautiful,” Frankel told EW. “It isn’t some picturesque, amazing thing. It’s awkward, especially when you are young. There’s an un-comfortability that one has to sit in, and there’s a discovery and understanding of each other’s bodies — not to mention the practical side of the whole thing.”

Frankel was committed to the realism of the moment, including the frustrating armor. It was important that the moment not feel “like another gratuitous, sweat-glistening-off-their-back sex scene, ’cause it’s just not like that.”

He continued, “For even a world-quality squire, you’ve got 10 minutes to get the armor off. Let’s say five, maybe at best. There’s no way Rhaenyra and Cole are gonna take that armor off in 10 seconds. So I was like, ‘Well, you have to have that in. These are all the things I really cared about, ’cause they take away this sort of, to my mind, archaic sexual sex scenes that have existed for so long in television and film, and make it feel real.”

Praising Clare Kilner, the director for the 4th and 5th episodes, Frankel lauds her and the intimacy coordinators for bringing everything together: “I just remember back and forth texts, back and forth phone calls, back and forth meetings between Clare, myself, Milly, and our intimacy coordinator. But particularly me, Clare, and Milly going, ‘How do we make this human?'”

Cole is an interesting (and frustrating) character, and making his upcoming hatred for Rhaenyra tied in with sex and their sexual relationship is very dark, that I’m glad that, at least for those in the show, the moment was safe. I also find it deeply endearing that Frankel spent all this time thinking about authentic sex in intense armor. George R.R. Martin would be proud.

(via PopSugar, featured image: HBO Max)