The Witcher is frequently compared to Game of Thrones. Both are dark medieval fantasy stories with adult themes, complicated histories and both are based on a highly regarded series of novels. One other aspect in which they’re comparable though are their sex scenes. Game of Thrones famously went in heavy on them early on, delivering information about the world in a manner that came to be known as ‘sexposition.’
But there was a dark side to all this, with Emilia Clarke revealing in interviews that the show’s staffers would put pressure on her to do more nude scenes so as not to disappoint her fans. Ew.
It’s refreshing to hear then that The Witcher‘s Anya Chalotra, who plays the sorceress Yennefer, was given options by the crew to avoid doing the scenes herself. In an interview with The Metro, she explains how there was a body double on set at all times if she wanted a stand-in.
“I had a body double for the sex scenes, and she was always there. Flora. ‘But I didn’t, I only used her for the first sex scene because I realised very quickly in that first sex scene that actually, I didn’t feel comfortable anyone else portraying Yennefer, because it’s still acting isn’t it?
I found [watching] that really hard, so if we were going to talk about the sex scenes then it would be how we were best going to film them, so that I was comfortable and you’d get you’d still get what we needed for the story to move on. But with the audience, yeah, but the wide shot isn’t me. The intimacy between Yennefer and Istrid is. Those close up shots.’
We thought we could portray those scenes without any nudity. Semi-nude, but not like the first sex scene where I had to use my body double. ‘The only things that I had to get nude for were the scenes, the transformation scene and other scenes which actually really did develop the story and really need to, you know…”
Personally, I thought Chalotra was easily one of the best things about the show. I’m primarily familiar with Yennefer from the video games, so watching her early backstory was quite the eye-opener. Her pre-transformation scenes where she’s scrabbling around in the dirt and dealing with a deformed spine are some seriously good acting, especially under heavy prosthetics. I was enjoying her performance so much, in fact, that when she transformed into her more familiar beautiful form, I was a bit disappointed.
But the quality of her acting remained sky-high, and I adored her wistful monologue to a dead baby girl. Now that The Witcher is a bonafide hit for Netflix, they’ve announced plans for a seven-season story. If that means even a handful of moments as powerful and well-written as this, we’re in for something that’s going to leave Game of Thrones in the dust.
