A Church Is Trying To Stop Cersei's 'Game Of Thrones' Season 5 Nude Scene

It can be argued that some of the nudity in "Game of Thrones " veers closer to gratuitous than necessary. However, there is one pivotal nude scene from the books that is critical to the story and a church is working to get it axed from the Season 5 script.

Book readers know the scene as Cersei's Walk of Shame, in which she (spoiler alert) is punished for her sins by the High Septon, a new character in Season 5 who will be played by Jonathan Pryce. She will be shaved, stripped down and forced to walk through the streets naked. According to TMZ however, the Church of St. Nicholas in Dubrovnik, Croatia is trying to stop the "Game of Thrones" producers from shooting the scene.

The church, which has power over the city's film commission, has strict policies against "public displays of sexuality" and although "GoT" has shot in Dubrovnik in previous seasons as a substitute for King's Landing, the church isn't thrilled with this scene. Vulture previously reported that an unnamed scene in ibenik, Croatia was being sabotaged by Bishop Anthony IV . It's unclear if it is the same Walk of Shame scene since that is now planning to be shot in Dubrovnik.

The producers don't want to cut the scene, however, and a source told TMZ that it is too crucial to the plot. We doubt that George R.R. Martin would be too happy about removing it either after his response to Season 4's controversial and disputed rape scene . After the critical backlash, the "Song of Ice and Fire" author said that cutting the Cersei-Jaime scene would have been "fundamentally false and dishonest " and would undermine the themes of the books , which are partially based on history. If the production can't get the okay to shoot, it looks like they may have to resort to green-screen, which Vanity Fair says would be a tough feat to accomplish for the large-scale scene in question.

[h/t Vanity Fair , via TMZ ]