SPOILERS ahead for the premiere of House of the Dragon on HBO.
The House of the Dragon premiere on HBO drew a massive amount of viewers, nearly topping 10 million. But not all of them might’ve been happy with what they were watching on the screen, with some wishing they got a bit of a warning.
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During the premiere, King Veserys, played by In America‘s Paddy Considine, orders a c-section for his wife, Aemma Arryn (Sian Brooke), which leads to her death and the loss of the baby. While blood, guts, violence, and much more have been a part of Game of Thrones since the beginning of its existence, folks weren’t ready to watch a graphic birthing scene that ends in failure after the fact.
According to BBC, director Miguel Sapochnik had been telling reporters and interviewers that the scene had been a point of discussion during production. As BBC quotes, he asked “as many women as possible” if the scene was too much before the final cut. This still wasn’t enough for many.
“I think it’s fairly traumatic for anybody actually,” Jen Coates, director of bereavement support charity Sands tells BBC’s Radio 1. “With 13 babies dying every day in the UK, the situation impacts an enormous community of people directly too.”
The solution according to Coates and past actions by Sands is to put a trigger warning ahead of the show. “That way, people can be better equipped with the knowledge and make an informed decision to watch or skip particular scenes or episodes,” Coates added.
John Whipple, the person behind Doesthhedogdie.com, the warnings for the scene from House of the Dragon started popping up after the episode. According to BBC, he’s quick to note that many of the warnings on the site “are very specific” and might not apply to all.
“On the other hand, everyone has something in their past they don’t want to relive,” Whipple says. “Having prior knowledge going into a movie puts users back in control of how they experience entertainment.”
Fans online seemed to feel similar and were quick, as usual, to let their opinions known. “I found the birth scene very distressing having experienced an emergency c section and hemorrhaging. We must be more mindful of how traumatic birth can be – it’s not entertainment,” one fan wrote. Jacqui Hoepner spoke to BBC about the scene also and said she had to walk out of the room and wished she had been more prepared.
“I felt very out of control of the situation. It was a really terrifying experience, that’s why the scene was triggering,” Hoepner told the outlet. “Considering half of the global population can have children and lots have experienced birth trauma, I think it would’ve been necessary.”
So if you’re keeping score at home, House of the Dragon, the prequel series to Game of Thrones, is being dragged for showing a failed c-section birth. It is not being dragged for any of the other violent acts portrayed on screen, the nudity and sex, the incest, or anything else you’d expect to see in Westeros. How did you feel about the scene?
