George R.R. Martin says Game of Thrones' Daenerys wedding night sexual assault scene made the pilot "worse, not better"

Insider

"Why did the wedding scene change from the consensual seduction scene ... to the brutal rape of Emilia Clarke? We never discussed it. It made it worse, not better," Martin said in James Hibberd's new book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon. Also in the book, Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff defended the change, saying: "Here's a girl who is absolutely terrified of this barbarian warlord she's being married off to, it's the last thing in the world she wants, yet somehow by the end of this wedding night she seems to be in a completely joyful sexual relationship with him. It didn't entirely work for us." Fellow co-creator D.B. Weiss added: "Also, in the second episode she has to go back to the less consensual, rougher relationship. In the book that works, but we just didn't have that amount of time and access to the character's mind. It turns too quickly. It was something the actors themselves felt wasn't gelling."