Emilia Clarke, who starred as Daenerys in Game of Thrones, says that she stands by the character.
The colossal achievement that was Game of Thrones has now ended and its last season certainly offered up plenty of shocks and surprises. Many were devastated to see Dany give into all of her worst impulses in the pentultimate episode, following up her campaign of revenge, murder, and punishment of her enemies with the obliteration of an entire city.
All this caused Jon to tragically end his beloved Dany’s life in the final episode, saving Westeros from her tyranny. But what does Emilia Clarke the actress think about her character’s choices? Well, when speaking to EW during a set visit, the actress said:
“You’re about to ask if me – as Emilia – disagreed with her at any point. It was a fuckking struggle reading the scripts. What I was taught at drama school – and if you print this there will be drama school teachers going ‘that’s bullshit,’ but here we go: I was told that your character is right. Your character makes a choice and you need to be right with that. An actor should never be afraid to look ugly. We have uglier sides to ourselves. And after 10 years of working on this show, it’s logical. Where else can she go? I tried to think what the ending will be. It’s not like she’s suddenly going to go, ‘Okay, I’m gonna put a kettle on and put cookies in the oven and we’ll just sit down and have a lovely time and pop a few kids out.’ That was never going to happen. She’s a Targaryen.!
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“I thought she was going to die. I feel very taken care of as a character in that sense. It’s a very beautiful and touching ending. 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…
“But having said all of the things I’ve just said… I stand by Daenerys. I stand by her! I can’t not.”
Clarke is certainly right that this has been in the cards for a long time and anyone paying attention to show knew better than to expect a happy ending for this character. It is a shame, however, that it had to come to this – not least for myriad dead bodies she has left in her wake.
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Originally published May 21, 2019. Updated May 22, 2019.
