Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: criminal

Criminal: Emilia Clarke Teases Mallory; Praises Sex Scene Approach

Emilia Clarke on her character in Prime Video's adaptation of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's Criminal, and how her sex scene was handled.

Though it's been a while since we last reported on how things were going with Prime Video's Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Monster: The Ed Gein Story) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Ponies)-starring series adaptation of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's multi-Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series Criminal, there was a very good sign from the streaming service earlier this month when Prime Video featured a preview image from the series during its Upfronts 2026 presentation. Now, we're getting some additional intel from Clarke, who touched on the series briefly in a new profile interview with Variety. First up, Clarke had a very fun way of describing her character, "armed robber" Mallory: "all tits and gold chains."

On a much more serious topic, Clarke addressed the issue of how she's seen and experienced some "bad stuff" when it comes to how nudity and sex scenes are handled during production. "Because I know what it can be, and on 'Game of Thrones.' I never had that." Clarke shared. "I've experienced lack of care on other jobs, which I think could have been prevented with some consideration." Though declining to name which productions she had bad experiences on, Clarke praised the upcoming Prime Video adaptation for how her sex scene was handled. "I walked onto that set and saw the way that [director] Dee Rees was behaving, and I went to the loo and wept for my younger self, who did not get that."

In January 2025, Image Comics announced it would release trade paperback reprints of the original comic book series, with new cover art and design by Phillips. In addition, it was revealed that the first season would cover the first two story arcs of the comic book series, "Coward" and "Lawless" – with the press release offering the following overviews for the two volumes:

In the first installment of the bestselling, multiple Eisner Award-winning crime noir series, "Criminal, Volume 1: Coward," readers meet Leo, a world-class pickpocket who is pressed into helping the cops pull off a heist. But when the job goes terribly wrong, Leo must go into hiding, his dire situation escalates, forcing the thief to put his skills to the test.

"Criminal, Volume 2: Lawless" is a story of brotherly love and hate, as Tracy Lawless returns home to find out who murdered his kid brother, and how much their family history has doomed them both. This is where Brubaker and Phillips take the world they created in volume one and begin stretching the boundaries of what crime comics can be.

The cast for the upcoming series includes Hunnam, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under), Luke Evans (Nine Perfect Strangers), Adria Arjona (Hit Man, Andor), Pat Healy (Better Call Saul), Taylor Selé (BMF), John Hawkes (HBO's True Detective: Night Country), Gus Halper (Rustin), Logan Browning (Dear White People), Kadeem Hardison (The Chi), Aliyah Camacho (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), Michael Mando (Better Call Saul), Marvin Jones III (Halo), Michael Xavier (Wild Cards), and Dominic Burgess (Palm Royale), Garrett Hedlund (Tulsa King), Chris Diamantopoulos (The Boys in the Boat), Lawrence Kao (Walker: Independence), Kyle Bradley Davis (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Aina Brei'yon (Dark Matter), Robert Lee Hart (Chicago PD), Katie Stevens (The Bold Type), and John Pyper-Ferguson (Suits).

Both Brubaker & Phillips are set to executive produce, with Brubaker penning the pilot script and serving as co-showrunner – alongside acclaimed crime fiction author Jordan Harper (Hightown, Gotham, The Mentalist). In addition, writer-directors Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (Captain Marvel, Masters of the Air) have been tapped to direct the first four episodes and executive-produce.

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