Amanda Peet Defends 'Game Of Thrones' From Claims Of Sexism

Season 5 of “Game of Thrones” drew a lot of controversy. While the HBO fantasy drama has never been too kind to its female characters, thanks in part to existing in a largely male dominated world, the brutal rape of Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Cersei Lannister’s (Lena Headey) nude “walk of shame” in Season 5 had fans up in arms, accusing the show of sexism in its treatment of women. However, the show has a new advocate.

Actress Amanda Peet, currently starring in the HBO comedy “Togetherness,” has come to the show’s defense in the aftermath of the big finale. More than just batting away the charges of sexism that have been levied at “Thrones,” Peet asserts that the show has some of the stronger women on TV.

“I think [the charges of sexism are] really misplaced. They write some of the greatest female characters that are on television,” Peet told the Wrap. “It’s a misogynist world, this world that George R. R. Martin created, but we have to experience it without thinking that people are condoning this.”

Peet went on to commend the central role the women of “Game of Thrones” play in the story.

“It’s much more insidious to have middling, ancillary female roles where the women are not part of the plot — where they don’t advance anything,” Peet argued. “Wife roles, girlfriend roles, there are very few of those in ‘Game of Thrones.’ If someone takes their clothes off and it’s a massive part of the plot? So be it.”

Of course, Peet's viewers are a bit biased. The 43-year old actress is married to “Game of Thrones” executive producer David Benioff. It is not necessarily surprising that the actress would stand up for her husband’s writing. Plus, Peet currently has a show on HBO, the network that airs “Game of Thrones.”

Others have not been so forgiving of some of the more gratuitous scenes in “Game of Thrones.” After the premiere of the Season 5 episode featuring the aforementioned rape, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) declared that she would no longer watch the series.

It will be up to fans to decide if “Game of Thrones” has gone too far when the show returns in 2016 for Season 6.