House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke says women are 'labeled difficult or a bitch' for setting s...

&34;It's amazing to me that people had to just fudge their way through those scenes before [intimacy coordinators] existed.&34; House of the Dragon star Olivia

"It's amazing to me that people had to just fudge their way through those scenes before [intimacy coordinators] existed."

House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke says women are 'labeled difficult or a bitch' for setting sex scene boundaries

"It's amazing to me that people had to just fudge their way through those scenes before [intimacy coordinators] existed."

By Jessica Wang

Jessica is a staff writer at , where she covers TV, movies, and pop culture. Her work has appeared in Bustle, NYLON, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, and more. She lives in California with her dog.

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September 9, 2025 2:11 p.m. ET

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Olivia Cooke on June 10, 2024 in London, England. Credit:

Karwai Tang/WireImage

Olivia Cooke is praising the work of intimacy coordinators, noting that sex scenes put actors in "really precarious and vulnerable situations."

In a recent interview with British outlet *The i Paper* to promote her new series *The Girlfriend*, the *House of the Dragon *star, 31, spoke about how women in film and television are still branded as "difficult" if they set boundaries while filming such intimate scenes.

"It's amazing to me that people had to just fudge their way through those scenes before [intimacy coordinators] existed," Cooke said. Sex scenes, she added, put actors in "really precarious and vulnerable situations," which is amplified for "those who are just starting out and don't have the vocabulary to say what they're not comfortable with."**

Olivia Cooke and Ewan Mitchell on 'House of the Dragon'.

Theo Whiteman/HBO

That's all the more applicable "for women, who'll often get labeled 'difficult' or 'a bitch' for speaking up," Cooke added. Good intimacy coordinators will "sense hesitation and become your voice," she added.

While "showing intimacy [and] passion is an integral part of reflecting the human experience" on the screen, Cooke believes there's a way to do so without actors feeling like "a chunk of yourself has been taken," she said.**

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Cooke is most known for her role as Alicent Hightower on HBO's *House of the Dragon*, a prequel to the juggernaut *Game of Thrones*, the latter of which became known for its explicit sex scenes. *House of the Dragon *was decidedly less explicit in terms of sexual content and nudity, which intimacy coordinator Miriam Lucia called a very deliberate choice.**

Olivia Cooke on 'The Girlfriend'.

Christopher Raphael/Prime

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*"Game Of Thrones* had a negative reputation – which they'll admit — in terms of the press and the #MeToo movement, and with Emilia Clarke and other actors talking about how difficult and gratuitous it could be at times, and how much pressure they felt," Lucia told Deadline in 2022. Sexual content and nudity is "part of the show," Lucia noted, "but we're in a new era."

With the prequel, "it was about finding the balance" and having "open discussion" with the actors involved, Lucia said.

Sean Bean, who played Ned Stark on *Game of Thrones*, faced controversy in recent years for stating he wasn't a fan of intimacy coordinators because they "spoil the spontaneity" of such scenes.

Cooke praised the intimacy coordinators on set of her newest Prime Video thriller *The Girlfriend* — namely, director and costar Robin Wright's approach to the intimate scenes. "She would tell you she would rather be a director than an actor at this point," Cooke said of Wright. "She just loves it. It's her calling."**

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