Hannah Waddingham Says She Has “Chronic Claustrophobia” After ‘Game of Thrones’

Hannah Waddingham opened up about her experience on Game of Thrones, portraying Unella, one of the Septa of the Faith of the Seven who tortures Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) in season five.

The Ted Lasso star stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to promote The Fall Guy. While discussing whether she did her own stunts in her upcoming film, which stars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, the host asked about any stunts she may have done on the hit HBO series.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

• Jonathan Glazer, Scarlett Johansson Reunite for Prada Ad

• Cillian Murphy Reveals Post-Oscar Project: New Versace Icons Campaign With Anne Hathaway

• Léa Seydoux's 'The Second Act' to Open Cannes Festival

Following Unella’s torture of Cersei, the High Sparrow allows the Lannister matriarch to return to her son’s side but first, she must complete a walk of atonement naked from the Great Sept of Baelor to the Red Keep as Unella shouts “Shame” at her the whole way. When Cersei regains her power, she imprisons and tortures Waddingham’s character by waterboarding her with wine.

“Thrones gave me something I wasn’t expecting from it, which was chronic claustrophobia,” Waddingham told Colbert. “It was horrific. Ten hours of being actually waterboarded. … Like actually. I’m strapped to a table with all these leather straps. I couldn’t lift up my head because I said that would be too obvious that it’s loose.”

She explained when she left the set, her hair had been dyed purple from all the grape juice used in the scene, and she couldn’t speak because the Mountain, aka Gregor Clegane, had his hand over her mouth while she was screaming during filming.

“I had strap marks everywhere like I had been attacked,” Waddingham continued. “One of the other guys who had been shooting something else was like, ‘What has happened to you?’ And I told him everything, and he went, ‘You’re lucky. I’ve just been crawling through shit on my elbow 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.”

Best of The Hollywood Reporter

• A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise

• 'Star Wars': 16 Animated Characters Who Made the Leap to Live-Action

• Power Showrunners: Hollywood’s 50-ish Most Influential Writer-Producers of 2023