House of the Dragon star Matt Smith questions trigger warnings

Matt Smith, pictured at the UK premiere of House Of The Dragon in June, has questioned the impact sensitive audiences can have on shows. Photo / Getty Images

HBO star Matt Smith has hit out at sensitive modern audiences that have become reliant on “trigger warnings” before TV shows and movies.

While recently speaking with the Times, the House of the Dragon actor, 41, claimed giving viewers “trigger warnings” has left TV shows “dumbed-down”.

“Too much policing of stories and being afraid to bring them out because a climate is a certain way is a shame. I’m not sure I’m on board with trigger warnings,” Smith said.

“It’s okay to feel uncomfortable or provoked while looking at a painting or watching a play, but I worry everything’s being dialled and dumbed down.

“We’re telling audiences they’re going to be scared before they’ve watched something,” he stated.

Smith isn’t the first actor to speak out about “trigger warnings” this year.

Judi Dench previously confessed she was surprised to learn theatre audiences were “routinely being warned about potentially distressing content, including abuse, violence, and loud noises”.

Smith’s comments come after viewers were left horrified after an explicit sex scene aired on the latest episode of the Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon.

Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen. Photo / HBO

While fans of the HBO fantasy series are accustomed to seeing X-rated moments on the show’s original series, the spinoff has been relatively tame - an episode when viewers were confronted with scenes of one character performing oral sex on another.

In the episode, King Aegon II Targaryen (played by Tom Glynn-Carney) brought his team of soldiers to a brothel to enjoy a night out. The arrogant leader then began ripping open curtains to expose the various activities being performed at the establishment before the cameras stopped on one woman engaged in a sex act.

While the series is known to push boundaries, fans were still caught off-guard by the graphic scene, with some even wondering why the scene in question was allowed to air.

“I guess a prosthetic counts. That couldn’t have been real. Looked fake,” one tweeted, while another wrote: “Wow, that was very in your face. I was expecting to see sex but didn’t count on that. The show never ceases to amaze me.”

‘Uhhhhhh that [sex act] was front and centre,” added another, while one wondered: “I’m really surprised they were able to let that on air.”

Season two of House of the Dragon is currently screening on Neon in New Zealand.