One key moment from Game of Thrones' scrapped pilot with Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen was significantly altered. It's been more than a year since the HBO fantastical series wrapped up after eight seasons, and yet fans continue to learn about how the show came to be.
The conversations around Game of Thrones are mostly geared towards its divisive ending. After years of guessing who's going to sit in the Iron Throne, the show threw a curveball by crowning Bran the Broken as the new King of Westeros. Meanwhile, viable leaders such as Daenerys and Jon Snow had tragic endings by dying and going back to the wall respectively. That said, there's also an enduring fascination regarding the unaired pilot of Game of Thrones. While it's not available to watch anywhere, people involved in the project have been divulging details about what happens it — the latest of which comes from Georg R.R. Martin, who wrote the books that the series was based on.
A preview of James Hibberd's new book, Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Untold Story of the Epic Series has been revealed through EW and it features Martin recalling how the show's original pilot depicted the controversial wedding night sequence of Daenerys and Khal Drogo. In the excerpt, the author reveals that initially, the intimate moment between the pair was going to be consensual like in his book, but it was ultimately changed to technically sexual assault in Game of Thrones' premiere.
Then came the filming of the wedding night. In the Emilia Clarke version, it’s rape. It’s not rape in my book, and it’s not rape in the scene as we filmed it with Tamzin Merchant. It’s a seduction. Dany and Drogo don’t have the same language. Dany is a little scared but also a little excited, and Drogo is being more considerate. The only words he knows are “yes” or “no.” Originally it was a fairly faithful version.
Game of Thrones features a lot of intercourse in varying degrees and kinds. Over the years, critics had criticized how its treatment of women, especially from a sexual standpoint. In the final season, it once again received backlash after insinuating that Sansa Stark's strength and determination was borne out of her unsavory and traumatizing experience when Ramsay Bolton held her hostage in Winterfell. It implied that it was the reason why she became the strong and steadfast woman worthy of being the Queen of the North at the end of the show, and if not for it, she would've stayed as the naive, meek girl.
Daenerys and Khal Drogo's encounter was different, however, considering that the couple eventually developed a genuine love for each other until the latter's death. Nonetheless, sticking to the original version of the scene arguably would've been better so as their romance wouldn't have been tainted with controversy. It's unclear why Game of Thrones made the alteration, but given what's known about the rest of the series, there wasn't really need for it to be changed.
Source: Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Untold Story of the Epic Series (via EW)