Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten, who played Melisandre the Red Priestess, confirmed the #MeToo movement had an impact on later seasons of the hit HBO series. However, that may have been a change for the better, at least in van Houten's opinion.
In a recent interview, Deadline pointed out Game of Thrones had less nudity on screen in the wake of #MeToo. "Yes," van Houten agreed, then added, "It also showed that you don’t need it."
As the Red Woman, van Houten participated in her fair share of nude scenes in the show's earlier seasons. This changed for her as well as the rest of the cast as the show wound down, due in part to the #MeToo movement.
#MeToo was founded by Tarana Burke in 2006 "to help survivors of sexual violence, particularly Black women and girls, and other young women of color from low wealth communities, find pathways to healing." The movement reached Hollywood in 2017, after actor Alyssa Milano popularized the hashtag on Twitter. This resurgence impacted the film industry, causing some change across industry standards.
Despite this small change, Game of Thrones did well for itself right to the bitter end. The series finale received 13.6 million viewers tuning in for the final episode, with streaming numbers bringing up the total viewership to 19.3 million viewers. The impressive number is not just a record for the eight-season series, but for HBO overall.
Game of Thrones stars Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, Maisie Williams as Arya Stark and Kit Harington as Jon Snow.