‘Game of Thrones’ Star Recalls Intense Scene That Traumatized Her
Game of Thrones star Hannah Waddingham opened up to Late Show host Stephen Colbert about a terrifying scene in the massively popular HBO fantasy series that left her with “chronic claustrophobia.”
Waddingham, who played Septa Unella, a member of the Faith of the Seven religious sect of the Seven Kingdoms, recalled the season six finale episode in which Cersei (Lena Headey) pours wine onto the face of her character, demanding that she confess her sins.
"[I had] 10 hours of being actually waterboarded, like actually waterboarded," Waddingham explained.
She went on to recount filming the harrowing sequence. “I'm strapped to a table with all these leather straps, and I couldn't lift up my head because they said that was going to be too obvious that it's loose, and I was like, 'Right, I'd quite like them to be loose,'” Waddingham said.
"I'm on my way back and I'm in this fancy-pants lift and my hair is already bleached to death, [but] I have grape juice all in my hair so it went purple,” she elaborated. “I couldn't speak because [Gregor Clegane’s character] the Mountain had his hand over his mouth while I was screaming and I had strap marks all over me like I'd been attacked…”
Finally, one of the crew members arrived to put Waddingham’s suffering into perspective.
"The lift doors open and one of the other guys who's been filming something else is like, 'What happened to you?' I told him everything and he went, 'You're lucky, I've just been crawling on my elbows in s--t for four days.’"
Waddingham went on to explain that she wouldn’t have suffered so much for just any production, but knew even at the time that Game of Thrones was a special exception.
"I have talked about it since with [executive producers] David Benioff and Dan Weiss. I was like, 'Good job it's for them, because it was horrific,’” she said.
Waddingham continued: "The reason why I don’t believe [Game of Thrones] is touched yet in terms of the cinematography of it for a series, it’s just a different level. But with that comes actual waterboarding.”
Her career certainly benefited from her stoic showing on-set. Immediately after Thrones, Waddingham joined Apple TV's Ted Lasso, becoming a fan-favorite cast member. She recently wrapped a role in the upcoming eighth Mission: Impossible movie, which she filmed aboard an active fighter jet carrier.
She’ll next be seen opposite Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in The Fall Guy, which hits theaters on May 2. You can watch Waddingham’s full Late Show appearance below.