Jason Momoa criticizes question about Game of Thrones rape scene

In the very first episode of Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is married off to the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), sold by her brother Viserys in exchange for Drogo’s army. On their wedding night, Drogo takes Daenerys to a secluded location and rapes her.

In George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, this scene is depicted as consensual, but it was changed for the show. The New York Times recently asked Momoa if he thinks “differently today about those scenes” and if he has “any regrets.”

“Well, it was important to depict Drogo and his style,” Momoa said. “You’re playing someone that’s like Genghis Khan. It was a really, really, really hard thing to do. But my job was to play something like that, and it’s not a nice thing, and it’s what that character was. It’s not my job to go, ‘Would I not do it?’ I’ve never really been questioned about ‘Do you regret playing a role?’ We’ll put it this way: I already did it. Not doing it again.”

Jason Momoa finds question about Game of Thrones scene “icky”

At the end of the interview, Momoa brought up the topic of Game of Thrones again, calling the reporter out for what he saw as an unfair question. “When you brought up ‘Game of Thrones,’ you brought up stuff about what’s happening with my character and would I do it again. I was bummed when you asked me that,” he said.

"It just feels icky — putting it upon me to remove something. As if an actor even had the choice to do that. We’re not really allowed to do anything. There are producers, there are writers, there are directors, and you don’t get to come in and be like, ‘I’m not going do that because this isn’t kosher right now and not right in the political climate.’ That never happens. So it’s a question that feels icky. I just wanted you to know that."

Since Game of Thrones, Momoa has gone on to huge success, perhaps most obviously in the DC Extended Universe as Aquaman. You can also see him as Duncan Idaho in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune movie, which is out in October.

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h/t Indiewire