House of the Dragon fans were left aghast at Matt Smith’s graphic sex scenes during a very raunchy premiere episode.
The former Doctor Who star, 39, who plays Prince Daemon Targaryen, the heir presumptive to the Iron Throne, was seen enjoying a raunchy tryst with his prostitute mistress Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) in a brothel.
The actor was seen naked during the racy scene, with Daemon stopping mid-romp while appearing distracted as he dwelled on the possibility of his brother King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) replacing him.
Long way from the Tardis: House of the Dragon fans were left aghast at Matt Smith’s graphic sex scenes during a very raunchy premiere episode (pictured as Daemon Targaryen with mistress Mysaria, played by Sonoya Mizuno)
A second scene shows Daemon at a brothel he has hired out for an orgy for the men on the King’s Watch.
Daemon, who has become heir presumptive once again following the death of Viserys’ son Baelon, makes a speech, with his loyal comrades awkwardly stopping during the sexual acts to listen.
Fans were quick to take to Twitter to comment on the star’s racy new role, with one saying: ‘matt smith sex scene i choked on my taco’ while a second wrote: ‘I’ll never forgive House of the Dragon for making me watch Matt Smith have sex.’
Another typed: ‘We watched #HouseoftheDragon last night and it was great! But I did struggle watching Matt Smith doing the dirty.. never in my life did I expect to see one of my favourite DW guys in that kind of scene.’
Say what? The former Doctor Who star, 39, who plays Prince Daemon Targaryen, the heir presumptive to the Iron Throne, was seen enjoying a raunchy tryst in a brothel
Racy: The actor was seen naked during the racy scene, with Daemon stopping mid-romp while appearing distracted as he dwelled on the possibility of his brother King Viserys (Paddy Considine) replacing him
One follower penned: ‘Reluctantly giving House of the Dragon a go. I loved Matt Smith in Doctor Who so I could really do without seeing him in a sex scene while dressed as a knock-off Legolas.’
Another wrote: ‘I don’t have high hopes for House of the Dragon, but I’m giving it a chance basically because I’m bored. I can’t say I was particularly interested in seeing what Matt Smith having unsatisfying sex would look like though.’
One fan wrote: ‘I had such a crush on Matt Smith up until his sex scene in House of the Dragon, while a second typed: ‘I don’t know if I can hack watching Matt Smith bang every week in #HouseoftheDragon. Even with long blonde hair he is still Doctor Who.’
Lol: Fans were quick to share their horror on social media
The first episode of the hotly-anticipated series has already sparked controversy.
The creative minds behind the show recently revealed they showed Queen Aemma Targaryen’s brutal medieval c-section scene to several women to gauge their reactions before the series premiered.
The harrowing scene during the premiere episode depicted the Queen (Sian Brooke) attempting to deliver son Baelon, who is in the breech position.
Queen Aemma had been trying for years to give King Viserys (Paddy Considine) a son to serve as heir to the Iron Throne, though the only child that survived was Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock).
Childbirth: The creative minds behind the show recently revealed they showed Queen Aemma Targaryen’s brutal medieval c-section scene to several women to gauge their reactions before the series premiered (Sian Brooke as Aemma and Paddy Considine as King Viserys)
Viserys is told by the Grand Maester (David Horovitch) that the child can survive through a medieval version of a C-section.
While Visesrys tells the Maester to perform the technique, he doesn’t tell his wife, with gory scenes showing Aemma being cut open while blood pours out of her abdomen.
She then bleeds to death, and while the child initially survived, Baelon died shortly after his mother.
Series creator Ryan Condal and his co-showrunner/director Miguel Sapochnik have bow revealed in a new interview with PopSugar that they showed the scene to a number of women to see if it was too violent, as they stated Aemma is ‘effectively murdered by her husband.’
Controversial: The harrowing scene during the Game Of Thrones’ prequel’s premiere episode depicted the Queen (Sian Brooke) attempting to deliver son Baelon, who is in the breech position
Horror: While Visesrys tells the Maester to perform the technique, he doesn’t tell his wife, with gory scenes showing Aemma being cut open while blood pours out of her abdomen
Sapochnik admitted that the scene was the, ‘subject of much debate’ and they shot several different versions of it.
‘It seemed important to highlight something that was the kind of the most traumatic event… it’s what breaks that family apart,’ he said.
“And more importantly than anything, Viserys doesn’t give his wife, Aemma, a choice, and that’s something that seems really important,’ he added.
He acknowledged the scene might have made people uncomfortable, revealing, ‘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, “No, if anything, it needs to be more,”‘ Sapochnik said.
‘It’s raising a point that . . . hits a real trigger for women, which is this idea of choice and that she doesn’t get to choose,” Sapochnik says.
‘She’s effectively murdered by her husband. And that is a good indication of the state of play in this world that we’re inhabiting,’ he added.
‘It seemed like this is an appropriate time to draw that parallel visually between the two, the male and the female struggle. One’s fighting on the battlefield, the other’s fighting for survival, sometimes from the person closest to her,’ he added.
Fans were also left horrified by the scene, with one writing: ‘I usually never turn away from stuff but that f**king C-section scene was too disturbing,’ said one person, while another wrote, ‘That C-section scene has my anxiety through the roof hours later.’
‘Aemma’s death scene hit me HARD, no way did I ever expect it to be so violent when it does not happen like that in the book at all,’ read another tweet. ‘So brutal for no reason.’
‘It’s gonna take me a second to get back accustomed to how violent, bloody and gory GOT was,’ a different user added. ‘#HOTD was ALOT tonight. That birthing scene will be with me for awhile.’
House of the Dragon made history in its debut Sunday evening on HBO and HBO Max, as the Game of Thrones prequel garnered 9.99 million viewers – the largest ever in the network’s history – Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday.
The ratings for the debut marked the biggest numbers ranging back before the streaming era, and shows that later debuted on the since-shuttered HBO Now and HBO Go, according to Variety. The numbers are based off of linear airings and HBO Max streams Sunday evening.
The series, which is a prequel to the smash hit Game of Thrones, more than doubled the 2011 debut of its predecessor, which had 4.2 million viewers at the time. The show garnered a record 17.9 million for the debut of its final season in 2019.
The HBO hit Euphoria – which is the network’s second-most watched show in history behind Game of Thrones – garnered 2.4 million viewers for its season two debut this past January.
The prequel’s source material is the 2018 novel Fire & Blood from series co-creator George R.R. Martin, and set 200 years ahead of Game of Thrones, detailing the story of the House Targaryen.
Martin created the show with Ryan Condal, a co-showrunner alongside director Miguel Sapochnik. The show stars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno and Rhys Ifans.
Murder: ‘She’s effectively murdered by her husband. And that is a good indication of the state of play in this world that we’re inhabiting,’ he added
HBO/HBO Max’s chief content officer Casey Bloys said ‘it was wonderful to see millions of Game of Thrones fans return with us to Westeros last night,’ Variety reported.
Bloys added: ‘House of the Dragon features an incredibly talented cast and crew who poured their heart and soul into the production, and we’re ecstatic with viewers’ positive response.
‘We look forward to sharing with audiences what else George, Ryan and Miguel have in store for them this season.’
The overall numbers from the network came in the wake of news that House of the Dragon debuted to the best same-day viewership of the year for premium cable networks or streaming services in the U.S. with 2.6 million households tuning in Sunday.
The stats were based on the viewers who watched the debut episode on HBO, and its streaming service HBO Max in its initial six hours of release, TV analytics company Samba TV reported, according to the New York Post.
The series garnered more than double the same-day viewership of the season four debut of Netflix’s Stranger Things earlier this year, which garnered 1.2 million households.
The latest: House of the Dragon garnered 9.99 million viewers – the largest ever in the network’s history – Warner Bros. Discovery said Monday
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