House Of The Dragon Star Matt Smith Slams Trigger Warnings On TV Shows

Matt Smith has an interesting take on whether audiences should be informed of upsetting content. 

During a recent interview with The Times, the House Of The Dragon actor claimed that giving viewers “trigger warnings” has left TV shows “dumbed down”. 

“Too much policing of stories and being afraid to bring them out because a climate is a certain way is a shame. I’m not sure I’m on board with trigger warnings,” Matt said.

A trigger warning provides a preemptive warning to viewers that something disturbing may occur on screen. For example: “The following episode contains depictions of sexual violence which some viewers may find troubling.”

In recent years, a growing number of programmes have chosen to alert viewers before showing potentially disturbing content. 

Recently, a trailer for Blake Lively’s new movie It Ends With Us came under fire for not providing a trigger warning about its depiction and discussion of domestic violence. The film was also accused of glamourising domestic violence.

Elsewhere in his Times interview, the former Doctor Who star argued that giving audiences a heads-up about potentially traumatising content is doing more harm than good. 

“It’s OK to feel uncomfortable or provoked while looking at a painting or watching a play, but I worry everything’s being dialed and dumbed down,” Matt insisted.

“We’re telling audiences they’re going to be scared before they’ve watched something.”

The British actor went on to gush over the idea of playing polarising characters. “That’s the fucking point. We should be telling morally difficult stories, nowadays in particular,” he added.