One Brutal Game Of Thrones Scene Gave Star A Real Life Phobia

Hannah Waddingham, who played Septa Unella on Game of Thrones, reveals that her time starring in the show left her with a real-life phobia.
Game of Thrones star Hannah Waddingham revealed that she found herself with a real-life phobia due to her role in the series. First airing on HBO in 2011, Game of Thrones is based on the beloved book series by author George R.R. Martin, chronicling the fight for power in the fictional land of Westeros. Waddingham memorably plays Septa Unella in the later seasons, with the character making for one of Cersei’s (Lena Headey) main foils before eventually falling victim to one of her schemes.
During a recent appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Waddingham recalls filming the torture scenes as Septa Unella in Game of Thrones, revealing that it left her with “chronic claustrophobia.”
The scene in question takes place after the High Sparrow (Jonathan Price) has been killed, with the Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) then ordered to torture Unella essentially until the end of her days. Waddingham recounts filming the scene, which involved the waterboarding moments feeling a little too real. Check out her comments below:
“ Thrones gave me something I wasn’t expecting and that is chronic claustrophobia. Because I had ten hours… I’ve talked about it since with Dave Benioff and Dan Weiss, the two executive producers on it, I was like good job it’s for them because it was horrific. Ten hours of being actually waterboarded. Like actually waterboarded.…

So I’m strapped to a table with all these leather straps and I couldn’t lift up my head because it would be too obvious that it’s loose. I was like, ‘Right, I’d quite like it to be loose.’… My hair’s already bleached to death, I have grape juice all in my hair so it went purple. I couldn’t speak because the Mountain had his hand over my mouth while I was screaming, and I had strap marks everywhere like I’d been attacked.”

Septa Unella’s Torture Scene In Game Of Thrones Explained
What It Says About Cersei Lannister As A Character
The Game of Thrones cast grows in season 5 with the introduction of the High Sparrow, a religious leader who comes to exert a lot of influence over the crown. This upends the separate fight for power taking place between Cersei and Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer), with both coming to feel the Sparrows’ wrath. While able to maintain her position of power at first, Cersei soon comes to be imprisoned for her incestuous relationship with her brother, among other crimes.
Eventually, Cersei agrees to repent for her sins through a walk of atonement. This walk sees her stripped naked and paraded through the streets where she is then abused by the residents of King’s Landing. Septa Unella, notably, is the one who oversees what is arguably the most humiliating moment of Cersei’s life. After Cersei gets her revenge on the High Sparrow by blowing up the Great Sept of King’s Landing, she has Septa Unella captured and visits her in the dungeons.
It’s here that Septa Unella is waterboarded, and it becomes clear that Cersei means to have her kept alive and tortured for as long as possible to exact her revenge. The shocking moment speaks to Cersei’s pure ruthlessness as a character, and her great capacity for violence and vengeance after she has been wronged. The blowing up the Sept is also what facilitates her own rise to the throne. As revealed in Waddingham’s latest story, however, filming Unella’s torture scene had effects that lasted beyond her time on Game of Thrones, which is an unfortunate outcome.