Whenever novels are created into live-action series or movies, a large part of the fandom is left disappointed as the live-actions are not always very close to the original source material. A similar thing happened to the iconic drama series Game of Thrones which was largely based on George R.R. Martin’s novel series of A Song of Ice and Fire.
However, one scene from the series was far too disturbing and unnecessary that even the actors of the series were terrified to film it.
Iwan Rheon describes filming that one ‘horrible‘ scene from season 5 of Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones will certainly go down as one of the greatest fantasy drama series of all time. The series was hugely praised for its incredible cinematography, amazing plot, and great acting until the last season of the series. As a typical live-action series based on novels, Game of Thrones also took the characters from A Song of Ice and Fire and stayed very close to the source material for a few seasons.
However, in the later seasons, the screenwriters for the show decided to deviate from the source material and that disappointed a lot of fans in the process. In the show, Sansa Stark was married off to Ramsay Bolton as an elaborate part of Littlefinger’s plan that never happened in the books.
Game of Thrones had its fair share of violent and disturbing moments from the very beginning of the series. However, what Ramsay Bolton did to Sansa Stark in the episode titled, ‘Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken‘ came as a huge shock to even the die-hard fans of the show.
Ramsay went on to r*pe Sansa on their wedding night while forcing Theon Greyjoy to watch and the scene was so traumatizing that Iwan Rheon described filming the scene as the ‘worst day of his career‘ in an interview with Metro UK. Rheon said,
“That was horrible. Nobody wanted to be there. Nobody wants to do that, but if it’s telling a story then you have to tell it truthfully. They didn’t sensationalise it or anything. It was very, very hard watching. It’s a horrible thing that happens, unfortunately, and it shouldn’t be. It was the worst day of my career.
Chopping someone’s finger off you don’t really see it, and when you’re doing like a close up, it’s a piece of plastic. We’re just acting, it’s not real. Then something like that where you’re in the actual reality of the situation is very difficult to deal with. It was a horrible, horrible day. Chopping someone’s finger off you don’t really see it, and when you’re doing like a close up, it’s a piece of plastic. We’re just acting, it’s not real. Then something like that where you’re in the actual reality of the situation is very difficult to deal with. It was a horrible, horrible day.”
Game of Thrones went on to receive huge backlash (via Variety and the New York Times) from fans and critics alike after the controversial scene.
George R.R. Martin addressed the backlash faced by the show
After the episode, Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken aired, many fans were clearly pi*sed at the creators of Game of Thrones, for putting in such an unnecessary and traumatizing scene in the series which was not even a part of the original source material.
As a result, the fans started emailing and flooding the blogs of George R.R. Martin to the point that the American novelist had to address the situation. GRRM took to his blog, Not a Blog, and iterated that the show has always been slightly different from the novels and defended the creators. He said,
“There have been differences between the novels and the television show since the first episode of season one. And for just as long, I have been talking about the butterfly effect. Small changes lead to larger changes lead to huge changes…
David (Benioff) and Dan (Weiss) and Bryan (Cogman) and HBO are trying to make the best television series that they can. And over here I am trying to write the best novels that I can. And yes, more and more, they differ. Two roads diverging in the dark of the woods, I suppose… but all of us are still intending that at the end we will arrive at the same place.“
Game of Thrones was a massive critical success as it largely received positive reviews from fans and critics alike for its iconic plot and mesmerizing world-building. The series could’ve even ended up becoming one of the most successful drama series of all time had they not messed up its final season which was a huge disappointment to the fandom.
All seasons of Game of Thrones are currently streaming on HBO Max.
