We're in a bit of a TV renaissance right now, as streaming services, network tv, and premium channels continue to produce groundbreaking and acclaimed projects for the small screen. Few shows on the air are quite as popular as HBO's Game of Thrones, which typically has sex and violence to spare. Series lead Emilia Clarke has played Daenerys Targaryen since the very first episode, and has therefore done her fair share of nude scenes. And the Emmy nominated actress recently spoke out about nudity on television, and explained why it should stop being such a big deal. After all, tons of shows contain nudity and sex scenes, as sex a normal aspect of living. She said,
I'm starting to get really annoyed about this stuff now because people say, 'Oh, yeah, all the porn sites went down when Game of Thrones came back on. I'm like, 'The Handmaid's Tale?' I fucking love that show, and I cried when it ended because I couldn't handle not seeing it. That is all sex and nudity. There are so many shows centered around this very true fact that people reproduce. People fuck for pleasure --- it's part of life.
It looks like Khaleesi is over talking about her on screen nudity. With so many racy and sexually charged shows on TV, it's not like she's the only actor who has had to strip down to the buff in order to film their scenes.
Game of Thrones fans seem fixated on the show's many nude scenes, although they've become far less frequent in the past few seasons. The first few seasons contained a ton of sex sequences, split between romantic couples like Dany and Khal Drogo and the various sex workers who are turning tricks in Westeros. And apparently some fans are so taken by the series, that they will abstain from watching pornography while new episodes of Game are aired. That's some (kinda weird) dedication.
But like Emilia Clarke said to Harper's Bazaar (via People), there are plenty of other shows that are equally sexual in nature. Almost everything on HBO has sex scenes and nudity, so it's unclear why Game of Thrones has become the example. Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale is extremely sexually charged, with a mixture of steamy and non-consensual encounters involving Offred throughout the first season.
Furthermore, not all of Emilia Clarke's nude scenes are even sexual in nature, which no doubt makes the actress crazy as well. Her most recent nude scene was back in Season 6, when Dany burned the Dothraki Khals alive. This echoes one of her very first nude scenes, where she emerged unburnt from the flames with her baby dragons. Still, those Khalessi fans out there no doubt made this latest nude scene sexual.
We'll just have to wait to see if Dany ends up in the nude again during Game of Thrones' final season. In the meantime, you can catch Emilia Clarke in Solo: A Star Wars Story on May 25, 2018, and be sure to check out our cancellation list to see if your favorite show got the chop.
