House of the Dragon showrunner explains why the brothel scene was important in Season 1

House of the Dragon is not an exception to Game of Thrones‘ open display of sexual proclivities. We follow Rhaenyra on her adventures in the fourth episode of Season 1. leaving the Red Keep covertly with her uncle Daemon Targaryen, accompanying him to a brothel, and continuing onward with her knight Ser Criston Cole. Showrunner Ryan Condal clarified why that scene was necessary.

House of the Dragon’s brothel scene was true to Fire & Blood

Condal emphasized that the sequence gave credibility to the show. He told NYTimes, “That scene is right out of the book. I don’t think we ever got that granular about the original show. It was more caring for the tone, the voice, the look and feel. We took the approach of this is a much more decadent period in time — it’s after a long period of peace, so people are wearing their wealth, they’re dressing in their house colors. That was more of the spirit we brought.”

House of the Dragon showrunners were wary of criticisms about sexual scenes

Former co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik often wondered if the scenes were necessary, “The problem in doing a brothel scene like they used to in “Game of Thrones” is what we would do is hire adult entertainment actors. Because that was the best way of getting people who understood what they were doing and there was no issue surrounding nudity and intimacy with other people, and then you would pair them up and film it.

With the advent of intimacy coordinators and Covid, that’s no longer possible. So suddenly that simple brothel scene is far more complicated, and as a result, at some point you start going, “Well, why are we doing this?”

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