Lena Headey’s HBO show shut down for investigation into “unprofessional behavior”

Game of Thrones veteran Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) is currently working on a new show called The White House Plumbers for HBO. She plays Dorothy Hunt, the wife of E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson), one of the masterminds behind the Watergate scandal under President Richard M. Nixon. In their zeal to protect Nixon’s presidency, Hunt and fellow conspirator G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux) accidentally topple it, changing American politics forever.

All that sounds pretty interesting, but there’s a snag: Deadline reports that the production has shut down while HBO carries out an investigation. “HBO has received reports of alleged unprofessional behavior on the set of White House Plumbers,” the network said in a statement. “We take very seriously our responsibility to ensure a respectful work environment on all our productions, and we are investigating the matter fully.”

So what exactly happened? According to Deadline’s sources, director David Mandel had a blow-up with a member of the props department, which led to the whole department walking off set. Deadline has reviewed an audio recording of the incident, and says that Mandel was “heard using the F-word and threatening the prop master that he will never work again.”

How The White House Plumbers connects to Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon

All of this is sort of tangentially related to Game of Thrones because of Lena Headey, but there’s another connection. You see, Mandel cohosts a podcast, “The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of,” with none other than Ryan Condal, the showrunner on Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon. Can you guess what the podcast is about? It’s about props.

This is a serious situation, and I hope the HBO investigation resolves everything in a way where everybody walks away in a better place…that said, it’s a little funny that the guy who loves props so much he hosts a podcast about them blew up about props on the set of his TV show. I don’t make the rules.

There’s no release date for The White House Plumbers as of yet. We’ll see how it goes.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels