House of the Dragon director on Larys Strong's (ahem) fetish: 'It's a really dirty scene'
Warning: This article contains spoilers from House of the Dragon season 1, episode 9.
This week on House of the Dragon, fans learned a bit too much about Ser Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) than they probably cared to know.
The man nicknamed Clubfoot, who schemed and murdered his way into the inner circle of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), revealed that he is getting something out of his unique situation with the queen. He shares secrets with Alicent and exacts covert missions for her, and in turn, he gets to... um... let us defer to Clare Kilner, who directed episode 9.
"Looking at her feet and then having a wank, basically," the filmmaker says of that moment in an interview with EW for the West of Westeros podcast. We should've known someone with a malformed foot who killed his family might have a foot fetish.
Kilner, who previously helmed episodes 4 and 5 of House of the Dragon, confirms Sara Hess, an executive producer on the series and writer on episode 9, came up with this new development for Larys. "Her mind is incredible. I mean, she really wrote us a wonderful episode, I have to say," Kilner remarks. "But, yeah, that was an interesting scene actually... Funnily enough, you get the intimacy coordinators [for] all the nudity, but they don't think about it for this."
"It's so intrusive and invasive," she adds. "It's a really dirty scene."
Gary Moyes/HBO
Kilner and actress Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) joined EW's West of Westeros to chat about episode 9, which proved to be a big moment for the Queen Who Never Was.
As the Greens make moves to put Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the Iron Throne after the death of King Viserys (Paddy Considine), Rhaenys is held prisoner in her chambers. She's able to sneak out into the streets of King's Landing in disguise, thanks to defector knight of the Kingsguard Ser Erryk Cargyll (Elliott Tittensor). During the coronation ceremony, Rhaenys sneaks into the Dragonpit to mount Meleys, bursting forth from the ground in an explosion of dust and stone.
"We wanted her to be rising like a phoenix from the ashes," Kilner tells EW.
Speaking of her war armor, Best notes, "I think she hasn't worn it for a very, very, very long time and the fact that she's wearing it means business. It's like, 'This is it. No more games.'"
Listen to more of EW's interview with Kilner and Best on the West of Westeros podcast, which goes behind the making of House of the Dragon and the growing Game of Thrones universe.
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