Game Of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau slams Emilia Clarke’s storyline in season one

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau slammed Emilia Clarke’s storyline in the first season of Game Of Thrones as ‘tough and degrading’ 

The actor, 50, reflected on how the show portrayed its female character with The Times on Sunday, and also claimed his character Jamie Lannister’s sister Cersei was also ‘never looked upon as an equal.’

In the show, Emilia’s Daenerys Targaryen is raped by Jason Momoa’s Khal Drogo on their characters’ wedding night, despite the scene being consensual in George R. R. Martin’s book.

Looking back at this, Nikolaj admitted: ‘For Emilia to play that in Series One was really tough and degrading, because what that character goes through is horrific.’

Despite his apprehensive feelings towards the storyline, Nikolaj said the traumatic event did allow Daenerys to go on a ‘massive journey’ as a result. 

Going on to talk about Cersei, who was played by Lena Headey, he went on: ‘Cersei, too, was never looked upon as an equal to her brother just because of gender. 

‘But then she rises to the top, and you could argue that the way those two women turned out was because of being raised in this horrific way.’

In August, Nikolaj revealed he ‘almost donated’ to one petition demanding HBO release a new ending of the show’s final season because ‘so many people wanted it.’

The Danish actor told Variety that he found the push for a fresh finale ‘hilarious’ but realised in the super-fandom ‘everyone had their own opinion.’  

‘I was aware of the petition for a new ending, which I thought was hilarious,’ the 50-year-old talent told the paper.

‘I almost wanted to donate to that petition,’ he went on, laughing at the idea of ‘HBO saying, “You’re right, so many people want it, we’re going to do it.” 

But Nikolaj realised why the end was so divisive, saying: ‘I think everyone had their own opinion. I find the world of fandom really interesting. Everyone wanted something specific and different from what they got.’

Despite a remarkable 32 Emmy nominations, the final season of the epic fantasy series was overwhelmingly panned by fans. 

Creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were largely left to their own devices for the show’s final hurrah and Bloys described their contact with HBO execs as ‘minimal.’

‘When a show is in its sixth, seventh or eighth season, by that point there’s usually a rhythm between showrunners and the network as to what they expect,’ Bloys said.  

The network likely didn’t expect the extreme ire from fans who were furious that the final season was riddled with plot holes and prop mishaps.