Spoiler alert: This story contains significant details from Sunday’s series finale of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
Sunday’s “Game of Thrones” send-off angered some fans and devastated star Emilia Clarke.
The actress who portrayed Daenerys Targaryen for the show’s eight seasons, told Entertainment Weekly that she was shocked by her character’s demise.
“What, what, what, WHAT!?” she said, remembering her reaction. “Because it comes out of (expletive) nowhere. I’m flabbergasted. Absolutely never saw that coming.”
At home, with a cup of tea, in October 2017, she began reading the last script.
What happened in the series finale made Clarke cry, and she decided to go on a walk.
In an Instagram post, Emilia Clarke joked she was behind the stray coffee cup spotted in ‘Game of Thrones’ which has been digitally edited out since the episode aired.
Time, Time
“I walked out of the house and took my keys and phone and walked back with blisters on my feet,” she said. “I didn’t come back for five hours. I’m like, ‘How am I going to do this?’ ”
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When Kit Harington (Jon Snow) read the script for the first time surrounded by the cast, Clarke said he too was moved to tears. In the final episode, Jon stabs Daenerys.
But, it shouldn’t have come as a total shock.The writers have hinted at Daenerys’ end and producers used to suggest Clarke act out a scene “a bit different than what she expected for a seemingly heroic character.”
“There’s a number of times I’ve been like: ‘Why are you giving me that note?’ ” Clarke told the outlet. “So yes, this has made me look back at all the notes I’ve ever had.”
Though Harington thought the finale would be divisive, he acknowledged Daenerys was far from perfect.
“If you track her story all the way back, she does some terrible things. She crucifies people. She burns people alive,” he said. “This has been building. So, we have to say to the audience: ‘You’re in denial about this woman as well. You knew something was wrong. You’re culpable, you cheered her on.’ ”
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As Clarke sees it, Daenerys has “taken on in her duty in life to rectify, so much she’s seen and witnessed and been through and lost and suffered and hurt. Suddenly these people are turning around and saying, ‘We don’t accept you.’ But she’s too far down the line. She’s killed so many people already. I can’t turn this ship around. It’s too much. One by one, you see all these strings being cut. And there’s just this last thread she’s holding onto: There’s this boy. And she thinks, ‘He loves me, and I think that’s enough.’ But is it enough? Is it? And it’s just that hope and wishing that finally there is someone who accepts her for everything she is and … he (expletive) doesn’t.”
As to whether Clarke agreed with her character’s actions, she admitted, “It was a (expletive) struggle reading the scripts, but learned in acting school not to disagree with her character.
“And after 10 years of working on this show, it’s logical,” she said. “Where else can she go?”
Clarke believed her character was going to die.
“I feel very taken care of as a character in that sense. It’s a very beautiful and touching ending,” she said. “Hopefully, what you’ll see in that last moment as she’s dying is: There’s the vulnerability — there’s the little girl you met in Season 1. See? She’s right there. And now, she’s not there anymore…”
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