ted lasso star confession

Ted Lasso star reveals 'worst day of her life' on Game of Thrones set 

Hannah Waddingham had a difficult time on the fantasy series set 

TV & Film Editor
May 25, 2021

Hannah Waddingham, who plays Rebecca in the hit series Ted Lasso, has admitted that she spent one of the worst days of her life on the set of Game of Thrones, where she was "waterboarded" for ten hours during a torture scene. 

In the show, Hannah played Septa Unella, one of Cersei's main torturers when she is imprisoned. Cersei eventually has her revenge by pouring wine onto her face before leaving her to be tortured by the Mountain - and Hannah opened up about the difficult realities of the shocking scene.

WATCH: Hannah opened up about the horrific Game of Thrones scene

Chatting to Collider, she explained: "I was strapped to a wooden table with proper big straps for ten hours. And definitely, other than childbirth, it was the worst day of my life. Because 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?'" 

Hannah plays Rebecca in the hit show Ted Lasso

She added: "The funny thing was, after we’d finished shooting it for the whole day, and people like Miguel Sapochnik, the director by the way, walking past with a cup of tea and a sandwich on-the-go and going, ‘Hi hunny, you alright?’ And I was like, ‘Not really.’ ‘The crew have just been saying we are actually really waterboarding you here.’ And I was like, ‘Yup, you don’t need to tell me that!'" 

MORE: Ted Lasso season two: everything we know so far

MORE: 25 shows to get excited about in 2021: UPDATED

The star admitted that the traumatic filming had an impact on her, saying: "I hadn’t even realised that it definitely gave me claustrophobia around water. Definitely. I hadn’t realised until I watched a program where the camera’s down on the actor’s face and they’re being dipped into the water, but you see them face-up to the camera, and I got in a terrible panic about it. And I actually went and had a bit of a chat to somebody about it." 

Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign up to Off Camera for all the gossip and goings-on from the wonderful world of TV and film

Email Address

By entering your details, you are agreeing to HELLO! Magazine User Data Protection Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please click here.

More TV and Film

See more