The Game Of Thrones Kiss That Wasn't Supposed To Happen
Game of Thrones definitely featured its share of steamy scenes... but one particular smooch was completely unplanned.
Throughout its eight season run, Game of Thrones stirred up plenty of controversy due to its portrayals of sex, sexuality, and sexual violence; in fact, it even inspired the popular term "sexposition," thanks to a particularly lurid scene during the first season where Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish explains his character motivations in an active brothel. With that said, Thrones certainly didn't cut down on its sexual content as the show continued, and it also diversified its representation, introducing bisexual characters like Oberyn Martell (The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal) and his lover, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma).
Ellaria is always on the hunt for her next conquest, and when she meets the openly queer Iron Islands warrior Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) on a Greyjoy ship, the two definitely... hit it off. However, according to an interview with the actresses, their steamiest moment was actually unscripted. Here's the real story behind the Game of Thrones kiss that wasn't supposed to happen in the first place.
Yara and Ellaria's steamy kiss was never supposed to happen
In 2017, shortly after the season seven episode "Stormborn," aired, Whelan revealed to Entertainment Weekly that a crucial moment during the episode wasn't originally in the script. On screen, the two strike up an immediate physical connection right before their Greyjoy ship is stormed by Yara's evil uncle, Euron (Pilou Asbæk). As it turns out, Varma and Whelan just kind of went for it.
"It wasn't directed that we would kiss," Whelan recalled. "It just seemed like something we should do. We led it, very much so. It was meant to be a suggestion [of flirting] and then it became more sexual than we expected because it seemed right. There was only a skeleton crew working because the rig could only take so much weight, so we were left very much on our own. And who wouldn't want to kiss Indira? I mean, come on!"
"I think it's a wonderful scene and amusing as well — like that look from Yara to Theon that says 'a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...'" Whelan concluded.
However, the situation got much weirder when, thanks to Whelan's back injury, her stunt double took her place with Varma. "Gemma had hurt her back so there were some stunts she couldn't do," Varma explained. "So I had to start kissing this poor stunt double and she was so terrified! That was quite funny, bless her. I don't think she'd ever been put in that situation before. She's used to falling over and being attacked and all the stunts, but to be kissed by an actress was a bit beyond her."
The entirety of Game of Thrones, including this unplanned scene, is available to stream on HBO Max now.