Matt Smith Warns Against Trigger Warnings For TV Shows

Actor Matt Smith has objected to trigger warnings in film and television. “I’m not sure I’m on board with trigger warnings,” he said in a new interview.

Trigger warnings, disclaimers at the beginning of movies and TV shows meant to warn audiences of the usually graphic, violent or upsetting imagery to come, have become widely used on streaming platforms in recent years, much to Smith’s chagrin.

Smith, who plays King Consort in House of the Dragon, expressed in a recent interview with The London Times that he feels storytelling should intrinsically inspire the audience to feel disturbed, and warning viewers of the subject matter ahead of time takes away from the experience.

“It’s okay to feel uncomfortable or provoked while looking at a painting or watching a play, but I worry everything’s being dialed and dumbed down. We’re telling audiences they’re going to be scared before they’ve watched something,” Smith explained.

Smith’s show House of the Dragon has been scrutinized for its lack of trigger warnings, specifically for episodes in its first season that depict a graphic birth. House of the Dragon, and its inspiration Game of Thrones, are both rated TV-MA for mature audiences. Still, their lack of official explicit warnings has sparked controversy over whether audiences should be locked in for such violent scenes unknowingly.

Smith remembered how movies from his childhood, like Friday the 13th, stayed with him over the years due to the unexpected upset and disturbance he felt when he watched for the first time at an age many would now deem inappropriate for such content. Smith speculated that this discomfort contributed to his understanding of storytelling and his appreciation for the art.

Smith said, “Too much policing of stories and being afraid to bring them out because a climate is a certain way is a shame.”

While Smith’s opinions come from a place of respect for storytelling as an art form, trigger warnings are a necessary response to disturbing features. Shows like 13 Reasons Why displayed graphic scenes that inspired self-harm from its viewers, which led the National Association of School Psychologists to warn about the risks of graphic depictions of suicide and prompted Netflix to flag other shows for their disturbing scenes.