House of the Dragon’s Fabien Frankel didn’t want sex scene with Milly Alcock to be ‘gratuitous’

House of the Dragon star Fabien Frankel has said he didn’t want his sex scene with Milly Alcock to feel “gratuitous” and admitted it took seven months of planning.

The 28-year-old actor plays Kingsguard Ser Criston Cole in the Game Of Thrones prequel and his character shares an intimate moment with Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, played by Milly, 22.

Speaking of the steamy scene, Fabien said he didn’t want it to feel “gratuitous,” but that he wanted it to “emphasize the reality of sex,” rather than make it a movie moment.

He said the scene was discussed for over seven months to make sure they got it right, adding that they even talked about how he would remove his armor in a way that felt natural.

He told Weekly entertainment“The most important thing for me was that I didn’t feel like such a pointless sweat-glittering sex scene because it’s just not like that, anyone who’s ever had sex will tell you that sex isn’t that beautiful.”

“It’s not something picturesque, it’s amazing, it’s awkward, especially when you’re young.

“There’s an uneasy feeling you have to sit in, and there’s a discovery and understanding of each other’s bodies—not to mention the practicality of the whole thing.”

Fabien said he, his co-star Milly and director Clare Kilner exchanged a series of texts and phone calls about the scene to make sure it was exactly how they wanted it.

He said they also spoke with Miriam Lucia, the show’s intimacy coordinator, to make sure they all felt comfortable and safe while filming the scene.

The intimate moment between Ser Criston and Rhaenyra happened in episode four, after the princess ended up in a brothel with her uncle Daemon (Matt Smith), where the couple shared a kiss.

After Daemon left, 15-year-old Rhaenyra returned to the Red Keep where she ran into Sir Criston, before stealing his helmet while he stood guard at her door – sparking a steamy moment between the pair.

It comes after Milly, who plays Rhaenyra, praised Matt Smith, 39, for putting her at ease during the brothel scenes, adding that the pair had an intimacy coordinator to help them perform convincingly.

She told the New York Post: ‘No, strangely enough. [Matt Smith and I] were just kind of buddies. So it was quite comfortable. We had an intimacy coordinator and we worked with her through the rehearsal process and blocked it months before.’

Milly, 22, had no idea what to expect when director Clare Kilner made sure the first time she saw the brothel location was when she arrived to film her scenes.

She has also spoken out about the experience of filming scenes for the series in a brothel, where she claims extras were in sex positions for up to 12 hours.

The actress said she felt “overdressed” while shooting her scenes at the call house as she spent a whole day surrounded by completely naked people.

She said, “There were extras we had just met who were 69 for 12 hours.

“It’s pretty clumsy, we felt pretty overdressed because everyone was naked.”

Elsewhere, her fellow House Of The Dragon star Emily Carey admitted she was “scared” of doing sex scenes with her co-star Paddy Considine, who is 30 years her senior.

The actress, 19, stars as Alicent Hightower in the Game Of Thrones prequel series, while Paddy, 49, plays King Viserys, whom she marries.

In the final episode, Alicent is awakened in the middle of the night by her maidservant who says that the king has “asked for her presence.”

In the next scene, she is seen silently while Viserys has sex with her.

Speaking to Newsweek, Emily admitted she was nervous about filming the scene before meeting and getting to know Paddy.

She said, “I was scared because I hadn’t met Paddy at that time. I didn’t know how happy he was and how easy he would make the scene.

“The first scene I read from the show was my sex scene and my intimacy scenes. All I saw was, you know, a 47-year-old man and I was a little concerned.’

Emily said she was watching Game Of Thrones from her role and that some of the violent sex scenes worried her about what she should be doing in House Of Dragon.

The actress added that she was comforted by the presence of an intimacy coordinator on set.

She said: ‘Having that outlet, being able to talk everything out and not be shunned, or not feel uncomfortable. In the rehearsal room she was a huge help and on set she was a huge help. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.’