Game of Thrones season 7 episode 2: Missandei actor discusses the Grey Worm sex scene

'This point is the climax and they physically act upon it'

Season seven of Game of Thrones is truly underway, the second episode seeing the Queens of Westeros make their first moves towards seizing/keeping the Iron Throne.

**Spoilers for the episode ‘Stormborn’ ahead**

Amid the fight for power, though, the episode featured one, very gentle moment of calm; Nathalie Emmanuel’s Missandei and Jacob Anderson’s eunuch Grey Work finally acting on their feelings for each other.

“We’ve seen them show their interest in each other, we’ve seen them in a round about way express it for each other, but not really say it,” Emmanuel told Entertainment Weekly in an innuendo-laden post-episode discussion. “This point is the climax and they physically act upon it.”

The actor spoke about how, despite Grey Worm’s terrible history, her character loves him for him, wanting them to share that intimacy.

“Missandei is always so official and straight and poised so to be vulnerable and see her human side of her, a little off balance, is kind of great and fun to play,” she said. “She’s kept things very together to stay composed but this scene is the opposite of that. She’s quite clear about what she wants because she fears she’ll never have the chance to have that with him again.”

Emmanuel also spoke about reading the script for the first time, detailing how her thoughts first went towards the characters, realising the moment was a huge deal for them.

“Also it’s a nude scene and you can’t help but think about that,” she continued. “You’re like, ‘Okay, I’m getting naked.’ And that was really strange for Jacob and I because we’ve danced around that scenario and we’ve become good mates and now we got to be naked around each other. But it was fine and, obviously, done really respectfully.

“Whether you’ve done it many times, or none at all, it’s a big deal. You feel like you’re giving something quite vulnerable and, yes, it’s hard.”

On set, the directors made the actors feel comfortable: “It was treated very well and very respectfully and I feel like we had a really great day showing these two characters being completely vulnerable with each other. And it sort of helps the scene to actually feel very vulnerable and exposed. It’s good to use that energy and it made it so much better.”

Speaking about Grey Work’s privates, she added: “The scene keeps everybody guessing about certain things.” Then asked about their future together, Emmanuel told the publication: “You hope those two have a happy ending. But you try not even say it out loud.”

The episode ‘Stormborn’ also saw Arya reunite with her long-lost dire wolf (a callback to season one), the Sand Snakes perish, and Sam attempt to cure Ser Jorah’s greyscale. Read our review and recap here.