Olivia Cooke said she wasn’t aware that the foot fetish scene in House of the Dragon would receive such a strong reaction.
Viewers reacted with revulsion to episode nine of the series, which saw Cooke’s character Alicent apparently rewarding Larys (Matthew Needham) for his information by removing her shoes and stockings and allowing him to pleasure himself over the sight of her bare feet.
In a new interview with Variety, Cooke said she didn’t want the scene to be “gratuitous”.
“It is wild, because there are beheadings, people getting their cocks cut off, graphic violence and brothel scenes, but getting my feet out and him w***ing off, that’s the most shocking. It’s funny, isn’t it?” she said.
“I knew on the day, I didn’t want this to be gratuitous at all because I know my feet will end up on various sites. It’s wild how you can’t predict which scenes people have the biggest reactions to, and unfortunately it was that one.”
Previously speaking about the scene on Entertainment Weekly’sWest of Westeros podcast, director Clare Kilner said: “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 invasive what he does. Looking at her feet and then having a w***. It’s so intrusive and invasive. It’s a really dirty scene.”
Find all the talking points from the ‘House of the Dragon’ season finale here.
