Lena Headey, who portrayed Cersei Lannister in HBO's "Game of Thrones," has revealed her astonishment at the fan backlash following her character's infamous nude "Walk of Atonement." The scene depicted Cersei being forced to march naked through the streets of King's Landing, subjected to public humiliation by a religious sect after her incestuous affair with her brother Jaime was exposed.
Headey, 52, described in a recent profile for The Telegraph that she was "really shocked by the anger, by this idea that I’d duped the audience." The outrage intensified when it emerged that a body double, Rebecca van Cleave, had been used for the sequence. This revelation led some viewers to believe Headey had misled them.
"By that point everyone knew [the cast], it was insane simply going anywhere, and I was with 3000 extras," Headey stated, referencing her role in the film "300." She further explained that acting, while rewarding, demands significant emotional investment, and she would have been unable to fully inhabit the character's vulnerability had she been focused on personal defensiveness.
Headey's perspective on filming such scenes differed from some of her younger female co-stars, who were also involved in intense or explicit content. Emilia Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen, recalled in the book "Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon" that she often agreed to demanding scenes despite personal discomfort, intending to process the emotional toll later. Gemma Whelan, who played Yara Greyjoy, noted that directives were often simply to "go for it" during filming.
However, Headey asserted that by the time of the "Walk of Atonement" scene, she felt more equipped to handle the professional demands. "I could stand up for myself," she said, adding that younger actresses might have been more vulnerable due to less experience. She recalled reflecting a year after the scene aired that some people "thought I was less of an actress because I didn't get my tits out."
Headey emphasized her commitment to emotional authenticity in her acting. "I know I'm a very emotional actor and I get really driven by that. In order to do my job, I allow myself to be really vulnerable," she explained. She felt that portraying Cersei's emotional state during the walk required her to avoid personal anger, which she believed the character wouldn't have felt.
She praised her body double, Rebecca van Cleave, calling her "wonderful" for her ability to perform the naked scenes, acknowledging it was a difficult and unnatural task. Headey firmly refuted fan theories that she had personally selected van Cleave to "demand a hot body" on screen, stating she had no involvement in the casting decision for the double and accepted whatever the production decided.
"None of it is about vanity for me," Headey insisted. Van Cleave also publicly defended Headey, stating that the use of a body double did not detract from the scene and that the focus should be on the finished product, not on who performed which part of the scene.
