After the public outcry against the brutal rape scene involving Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) during the previous season, fans of "Game of Thrones" should expect to see a toned down season 6, especially in scenes with sexually violent content.
A lot of people expressed their concerns after watching Sansa brutally raped by her horrifying husband Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) in front of Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) during their wedding night in season 5.
The episode, titled "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken," caused quite a stir. It even prompted a U.S. government official to react negatively to the scene.
But according to "Game of Thrones" director Jeremy Podeswa, they did not expect a loud outcry from the viewers.
"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," the episode director said in an interview with Vanity Fair.
Since the audience found the scene too brutal to bear, series creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss decided to dilute the violence in the series a little bit.
"It was a difficult and brutal scene and we knew it was going to be challenging for the audience," Podeswa shared with the press during the breakfast panel at the Fox Studios Australia in Sydney.
"But it was very important to us in the execution that it would not be exploited in any way. To be fair, the criticism was the notion of it, not the execution. It was handled as sensitively as it could possibly be; you hardly see anything."
This could mean that the rumored sexual assault that is expected to be featured in "Game of Thrones" season 6 will be less cruel compared to Sansa's infamous rape scene.
However, the director said that they will not be overly influenced by all the criticisms that the show gets from the audience.
"Game of Thrones" season 6 is expected to air in April 2016.
