“I’m not comfortable doing this”: ‘Game of Thrones’ Star Refused to Cross 1 Line That Matt Smith Completely Ignored in ‘House of the Dragon’

The vivid cruelty that colors the events of House of the Dragon would seem petty and prudish compared to the era of Game of Thrones. That much was evident when the Lord of Winterfell was beheaded at the whim of a child who in turn was puppeteered by a woman who could put Lady Macbeth to shame.

In a world such as this, it is not shocking to find people betrayed, dynasties overthrown, and lines crossed to the point of no return. However, once in a blue moon, there happens to be a chance occurrence that defies the established standards of the insidious cruelty of Westeros.

Although such a thing would never occur in-universe itself, an actress did make a crucial change in the script of Game of Thrones Season 5 that saw her almost crossing a line that was simply not acceptable, even with the fourth wall dividing fiction from reality.

Natalie Dormer’s Margaery Tyrell Makes a Lasting Impression

Game of Thrones was an event that defied every ideal and logic that defined television in the 21st century. A phenomenon in and of itself, the adaptation of George R.R. Martin‘s high fantasy novel, A Song of Ice and Fire, painted an arc across time and space that shook the world out of complacency and instilled in the audience a new-found appreciation for modern civilization.

However, within the realm of Westeros under the shadowy reign of House Lannister, Natalie Dormer‘s Margaery Tyrell toed a thin line that separated the honor of being crowned as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms from a beheading.

Bequeathed to Joffrey – who was puppeteered into an early grave – and later married to the boy-king Tommen Baratheon, Margaery Tyrell of House Highgarden was born with an ambition that allowed her to enjoy the weight of a crown before being blown to pieces. After all, no one who dared to undermine Cersei Lannister ever lived to tell the tale.

Natalie Dormer Takes a Stand in Game of Thrones

After dethroning the vicious and psychopathic King Joffrey Baratheon, Margaery Tyrell, skilled in the art of seduction and politics, quickly offered her hand to Tommen Baratheon, the soft-spoken, kind, and impressionable heir to the Iron Throne.

However, considering Dean-Charles Chapman’s age, who was only 16 at the time of Game of Thrones‘s Season 4 premiere, the sexually charged scene that was originally depicted in Episode 4 was not only inappropriate but inherently problematic and uncomfortable for 33-year-old actress Natalie Dormer.

Refusing to go through with the scene unless it was extensively toned down, Dormer referred to the series showrunners to find an alternate resolution for her predicament. She later revealed in an interview with The Daily Beast:

That scene was altered because I phoned Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff] and said, “I’m not comfortable doing this.” It’s the nature of the beast that I’m four years into playing Margaery Tyrell and the big plot points of the book are in stone. You can’t change them. George R.R. Martin wrote a particular plot line, so on the specifics of Margaery and Tommen getting married, there’s nothing I can do. On the show, we had to find a way to navigate that in a sensitive way.

However, in a House of the Dragon episode that mirrors the events of Game of Thrones, 40-year-old actor Matt Smith‘s Daemon Targaryen seduces 22-year-old Milly Alcock‘s Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in the show’s Season 1 in a highly-charged scene that was in no way anything less than the scene between Margaery and Tommen.

House of the Dragon Season 2 is currently streaming on HBO and Max.