Lena Headey Defends Cersei’s Walk Of Shame In The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Finale

Warning: As per normal, proceed with extreme caution, spoilers abound in this article. Check out this video where Lena Headey slings insults at Jimmy Kimmel as if she were Cersei.

Lena Headey portrays the queen mother, Cersei Lannister, in HBO’s Game of Thrones. While most fans despise the character, in the Game of Thrones Season 5 finale, many were left feeling sorry for Cersei after having to walk naked through Flea Bottom at King’s Landing as atonement for her sin of incest with her cousin, Lancel Lannister (Eugene Simon).

Many Game of Thrones fans are now judging Lena Headey for her use of a body double during her walk of shame. While Lena Headey has never been fearful of exposing her body in front of the camera, the 41-year-old may have had a very legitimate reason — she is pregnant. The actress announced her pregnancy earlier this year, and while no one quite knows her pregnancy timeline versus her Game of Thrones filming schedule for her walk of shame yet (although you can do the math here), it is possible Lena Headey may have been pregnant during this pivotal scene. However, this hasn’t curbed the displeasure many fans had with Lena Headey using a body double, many taking to the internet with screenshots of the CGI used to superimpose Lena Headey’s head onto the body double.

However, as per usual, Lena Headey is standing tall and proud about her naked walk of shame in the Game of Thrones season finale. She even defended Cersei to EW.

“It’s not hard when people are screaming at you and you look like s**t and you’re being f**king humiliated to figure out how that would feel. There’s a part of you that’s f**king terrified. I can’t even imagine people wanting your blood. Cersei has done wrong, but she doesn’t really deserve this.”

Lena Headey also pointed out while Cersei’s walk of shame was quite out there in terms of the nudity, the concept was based on fact. Many women have been persecuted through the ages and still are even in this day and age.

“They still do it now. They take women out and stone them to death.”

It took Lena Headey three days of filming for Cersei’s walk of shame, but it took much longer to set up. The original location refused due to the fact Lena Headey was to walk naked down a set of steps. These stairs belonged to a church, who refused on religious grounds against filming there. However, Game of Thrones showrunner David Benioff was optimistic about the delays.

“It always happens and it puts more work on the location teams, but it always ends up working out.”

Game of Thrones director David Nutter, however, told the Hollywood Reporter he was more concerned about about getting Lena Headey’s walk of shame right.

“I was on pins and needles about wanting to get it right because Lena Headey and I are friends and I think she’s such a great talent. I wanted it to turn out wonderful. Wonderful probably isn’t the best word, but I wanted it to turn out right… I wanted to get a sense of being with her as much as possible and you go through this walk with her. The extras in Dubrovnik were incredible with their responses and reactions to her. They reacted to her as the queen going into Flea Bottom, the worst part of town. This is a slum she created. Lena went on an emotional journey through it. It was a situation in which you really felt like she was in excruciating physical and emotional turmoil and pain. I felt a little bit sorry for her, which is what I was going after.”

What did you think of Lena Headey’s portrayal of Cersei’s walk of shame in the Season 5 finale of Game of Thrones? Let us know by commenting below!

[Image credits: HBO Inc.]