“Game of Thrones” Season 6 will see a marked change in its approach towards depicting sexual violence towards women. The reason for this change in approach is the public outcry over the infamous Sansa Stark Ramsay Bolton rape scene played by Sophie Turner and Iwan Rheon in the massive popularly TV series. Earlier this year, Turner had revealed that there will be scenes in Season 5 that would be even more shocking than the ‘Red Wedding’ episode of Season 3. Turner was right.

In the Jeremy Podeswa directed “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” episode of “Game of Thrones” Season 5, Ramsay rapes Sansa right after their wedding while Theon Greyjoy (played by Alfie Allen) is forced to watch. Now, the creators have taken the outrage to heart and have changed their approach, reports The New Daily.

“We were aware ahead of time that it was going to be disturbing but we did not expect there would be people in Congress talking about it,” said Podeswa at a breakfast at Sydney’s Fox Studios.

Podeswa is also going to direct the first two episodes of Season 6 and has assured fans that David Benioff and DB Weiss have taken fan feedback seriously and are making necessary changes, reports ABC News. “Game of Thrones” has also been criticised previously for a non-consensual sex scene in season 4.

Read Sophie Turner Secretly Loves Shooting Controversial Sexual Violence Scene Of 'Game Of Thrones.'

Podeswa and author of the novel George RR Martin have also defended the rape scene.

“The books reflect a patriarchal society based on the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages were not a time of sexual egalitarianism. It was very classist, dividing people into three classes. And they had strong ideas about the roles of women,” Martin told Entertainment Weekly.

Podeswa who has also worked on “American Horror Story” and “Boardwalk Empire” said that it is very important for the producers to not self-censor as the show depicts an extremely brutal world where horrible things happen.

Fans and critics opposed the inclusion of the rape scene after the episode aired. Some called it totally unnecessary, gratuitous and clichéd. Surely, the creators of the show will have this thing in mind when they film such episodes that requires depiction of sexual violence.

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