Emily Carey was ‘scared’ ahead of a House of Dragons sex scene due to a 30-year age gap with Paddy Considine

Emily Carey had to do a sex scene in House of Dragons with Paddy Considine, who is three decades older than her, but said he was a “joy”.
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Emily Carey was “scared” ahead of a House of Dragons sex scene due to a 30-year age gap with her co-star Paddy Considine.

Emily, who plays young queen Alicent Hightower in the HBO fantasy series, was just 17-years-old when she got the script for her sex scene with Considine, who is three decades older.

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The British actress, known previously for her role in BBC’s Casualty, remembers being scared because she hadn’t met her much-older co star yet, but later called him a “joy”.

British actress Emily Carey on the red carpet at the “House of the Dragon” premiere at Leicester Square Gardens, in London, on August 15, 2022. (Photo by HOLLIE ADAMS / AFP)British actress Emily Carey on the red carpet at the “House of the Dragon” premiere at Leicester Square Gardens, in London, on August 15, 2022. (Photo by HOLLIE ADAMS / AFP)
British actress Emily Carey on the red carpet at the “House of the Dragon” premiere at Leicester Square Gardens, in London, on August 15, 2022. (Photo by HOLLIE ADAMS / AFP)

Paddy, 49, plays King Viserys Targaryen in the Game of Thrones prequel - who marries the young Alicent after the death of his wife during child birth.

In the fourth episode, Alicent is woken by a maid who says the King has “requested her presence” before being obliged to have joyless sex with him.

English actor Paddy Considine attends the World premiere of “House of the Dragon” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, on July 27, 2022. (Photo by Chris Delmas / AFP)English actor Paddy Considine attends the World premiere of “House of the Dragon” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, on July 27, 2022. (Photo by Chris Delmas / AFP)
English actor Paddy Considine attends the World premiere of “House of the Dragon” at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, on July 27, 2022. (Photo by Chris Delmas / AFP)

Emily, now 19, told the New York Post: “It scared me, because at that point I still hadn’t met Paddy,

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“I didn’t know how much of a joy he was and how easy he was going to make [the scene], and all I saw was, you know, a 47-year-old man and me. I was a bit concerned.”

Despite her previous concerns, Emily said the intimacy coordinators made the scene a “lot easier” than she thought it would be.

She told the publication: “Having that outlet of the intimacy coordinator, to be able to talk everything through and not be shunned, or not feel awkward … Yeah, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.”

Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke) is the second wife of King Viserys, and part of an extremely old and powerful house in Westeros. At the start of the series, she is best friends with Rhaenyra Targaryen and her father Otto Hightower is Hand of the King to Viserys.Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke) is the second wife of King Viserys, and part of an extremely old and powerful house in Westeros. At the start of the series, she is best friends with Rhaenyra Targaryen and her father Otto Hightower is Hand of the King to Viserys.
Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke) is the second wife of King Viserys, and part of an extremely old and powerful house in Westeros. At the start of the series, she is best friends with Rhaenyra Targaryen and her father Otto Hightower is Hand of the King to Viserys.

The 19-year-old also said how she had watched Game of Thrones during the pre-production phase for its prequel but noticed there is “a lot of violent sex”.

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She added: “Even just the first episode of Thrones, there’s a lot of violence upon women.

“There’s a lot of violent sex and it made me nervous. I was like: ‘Oh God, what am I gonna have to do in this show?’”

In the same episode Matt Smith’s character Daemon Targaryen has an incest scene with his niece Rhaenyr, who is played by Milly Alcock.

Matt, 39, and Milly, 22, also have a large age gap but Milly told the New York Post that things are “quite comfortable” as the pair are good mates.

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She said: “[Smith and I] were just kind of mates. So, it was quite comfortable. We had an intimacy coordinator, and we worked with her through the rehearsal process and blocked it out months before.

“We felt pretty overdressed, because everyone else was nude.”

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