Hannah Waddingham reveals she got "chronic claustrophobia" during filming of Game of Thrones

Hannah Waddingham has become the latest of the actors to criticize Game of Thrones' filming methods. In her latest appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the star revealed that she has gotten "chronic claustrophobia" while filming a particular sequence in Game of Thrones where Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) tortures her character (Septa Unella).

Waddingham told Colbert:

"Thrones gave me something I wasn't expecting from it and that is chronic claustrophobia...I have talked about it since with David Benioff and Dan Weiss, the two exec producers on it, I was like, 'Good job it's for them because it was horrific."

She revealed that during this filming procedure, she was exposed to actual waterboarding for 10 hours. She went on to elaborate on what exactly happened and why she still resents working on the famous Game of Thrones.

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"I was screaming and I had strap marks all over me like I'd been attacked"- Hannah Waddingham on her horrific experience on the sets of Game of Thrones

Hannah Waddingham further added that she had strap marks all over her body and couldn't speak after the scene because the Mountain, aka Gregor Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), had his hand over her mouth as she was screaming while filming.

Waddingham elaborated:

"So I'm strapped to a table with all these leather straps and I couldn't lift my head because they said that was going to be too obvious that it's loose and I was like, 'Right, I'd quite like them to be loose.'...I'm on my way back and I'm in this fancy-pants lift and my hair is already bleached to death [but] I have grape juice all in my hair so it went purple,...I couldn't speak because the Mountain had his hand over his mouth while I was screaming and I had strap marks all over me like I'd been attacked..."

She continued:

"The lift doors open and one of the other guys who's been filming something else is like, 'What happened to you?' I told him everything and he went, 'You're lucky, I've just been crawling on my elbows in s--- for four days'. And we were laughing about how both of us are in Game of Thrones, and it kind of doesn’t matter when you’re in Thrones. You just want to give the best."

Waddingham previously spoke about this issue earlier in a 2021 interview on Collider Ladies Night.

“I was strapped to a wooden table with proper big straps for 10 hours. And definitely, other than childbirth, it was the worst day of my life. Lena was uncomfortable pouring liquid in my face for that long, and I was beside myself. But in those moments you have to think, do you serve the piece and get on with it or do you chicken out and go, ‘No, this isn’t what I signed up for, blah, blah, blah?’”

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What role did Hannah Waddingham play in Game of Thrones?

Hannah Waddingham had a very memorable role on the HBO show, but her stint was quite short, and in the mix of many characters, many fans may miss out on what she did.

Waddingham portrayed the villainous Septa Unella of the Faith of the Seven, a devoted follower of the High Sparrow. Her notorious and memorable scene involved parading Queen Cersei naked through the streets of King's Landing while chanting "shame," a scene that remains one of the finest in the history of television. But the backstories may not be among the finest, as it seems.

All the seasons of Game of Thrones are streaming on Max.