Intimate scenes in historical dramas never take the time to properly address how people can get out of all those layers of garment in such quick succession. And even though Game of Thrones is usually a show to take such immersive details seriously, HBO couldn’t bother to spend precious minutes of runtime on such minor inconveniences back then.
Well, House of the Dragon doesn’t rush in its pace, which is why we finally got a proper sex scene that addresses the intricate matter of getting out of Medieval armor fast enough that it doesn’t kill the mood. Fabien Frankel, who portrays Ser Criston Cole, has addressed the concern in a chat with Entertainment Weekly, explaining why they had to get the timing just right.
“I remember just saying to them, ‘There’s no way this armor comes off without the help.’ Knights would have squires, and squires would take off their armor. 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 Rhaneyra and Cole are gonna take that armor off in 10 seconds.
“So I was like, ‘Well, you have to have that in. It’s important that that’s what it is. It’s important that it’s a struggle to get the armor off.’ It’s heavy. How do we get the buckle off? How do we get the boots off? 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 and how it would be.”
Not only did the procession elevate the scene from yet another Westerosi romp in the sack, but it also helped ease the two nervous characters of Rhaenyra and Criston into it. So, I’d say that’s a win for House, especially compared to its predecessor.