{
  "id": 1276090,
  "title": "Before Ted Lasso, Hannah Waddingham Played A Game Of Thrones Villain",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/16/before-ted-lasso-hannah-waddingham-played-a-game-of-thrones-villain",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-16T13:12:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TVLine",
    "slug": "tvline",
    "url": "https://www.tvline.com/2236957/ted-lasso-star-hannah-waddingham-game-of-thrones-role-explained/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Prior to her portrayal of Ted Lasso's Rebecca Welton, actress Hannah Waddingham played a notorious Game of Thrones villain: Septa Unella. Waddingham's role as Unella, a nun tasked with torturing Queen Cersei Lannister, solidified her reputation as a powerful TV antagonist. Unella's psychological torment of Cersei, including forcing her to walk naked through the streets, earned her a place among Game of Thrones' most memorable villains. However, Unella's character ultimately met a grim fate, waterboarded with wine in the same dungeon as Cersei, after Cersei's revenge on the religious extremists in the Season 6 finale. Hannah Waddingham later revealed that the scene originally featured a brutal sexual assault, but was changed due to backlash from the Sansa Stark assault scene.",
  "summary": "Years before her Ted Lasso role as Rebecca Welton, Hannah Waddingham played a disturbing and unforgettable villain on HBO's Game of Thrones.",
  "key_points": [
    "Hannah Waddingham played Septa Unella in Game of Thrones.",
    "Septa Unella tortured Queen Cersei Lannister.",
    "Waddingham's role made her a memorable TV antagonist."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}