Emilia Clarke read a paragraph in the final script forGame of Thrones.
She read it again and again.
“What, what,what,WHAT!?”
the actress recalls thinking.
“Because it comes out of fking nowhere.
Absolutely never saw that coming.”
It was October 2017.
I gotta go!
I gotta go!'
And they’re like, ‘You gotta get your bags!'"
Once at home, the actress prepared herself.
“I got myself situated,” she says.
“I got my cup of tea.
I had to physically prepare the space and then begin reading them.”
Clarke swiped through pages: Daenerys arrives at Winterfell and Sansa doesn’t like her.
She discovers Jon Snow is the true heir to the Iron Throne and isn’t thrilled.
Then her other close friend and advisor Missandei dies too.
Jon Snow pulls away.
“And I went for a walk.
I didn’t come back for five hours.
I’m like, ‘How am I going to do this?'”
Two days later, Clarke was on a plane to Belfast for the final season table read.
Clarke, positively bursting with wanting to talk about her storyline, found the flight maddening.
You’re just not?…"
“And then it was kind of great him not having read it.”
Was this ending Martin’s original plan?
“So yes, this has made me look back at all the notes I’ve ever had.”
For Clarke, the final season arc required mapping out a series of turning points.
“The problem is [the Starks] don’t like her and she sees it.
She goes, ‘Okay,onechance.’
She gives them that chance and it doesn’t work and she’s too far to turn around.
She’s made her bed, she’s laying in it.
And that’s the thing.
She literally was brought into this world going, ‘Run!’
These fkers have fked everything up, and now it’s, ‘You’re our only hope.’
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?
That breaks her completely.
There’s nothing left to making a tough choice.”
Executing Varys for treason?
“She fking warned him last season.
I love [actor Conleth Hill].
But he changes his colors as many times as he wants.
She needs to know the people who are supporting her regardless.
That was my only option, essentially, is what I mean.”
Burying Cersei Lannister under the collapse of the Red Keep?
“With Cersei, it’s a complete no-brainer.
Lady’s a crazy motherfker.
She’s going down.”
She believes in Daenerys’ confidence, idealism, and past acts of compassion.
Clarke has drawn strength from Daenerys and infused Daenerys with her strength.
It really messed me up.’
And then I asked my mom and brother really weird questions.
They were like: ‘What are you asking us this for?
What do you mean do I think Daenerys is a good person?
Why are you asking us that question?
Why do you care what people think of Daenerys?
Are you okay?'"
“And I’m all: ‘I’mfine!
But is there anything Daenerys could do that would make you hate her?'”
It was around midnight and bitterly cold.
“Emilia has been threading that needle beautifully this season,” Cogman says.
“It’s the hardest job anybody has on this show.”
As we pass crew members our voices cautiously go silent.
Killing Daenerys was a massive and difficult move.
“It’s emotionally very challenging.
It’s designed to not feel good.
That said, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
The best drama is the throw in you have to think about.
I think that was George’s intent and what David and Dan wanted to do.
“Yes, although I don’t know if she’s a villain,” Cogman says.
“This is a tragedy.
She’s a tragic figure in a very Shakespearean and Greek sense.
“That’s what war is,” Dinklage says.
“Did we make the right choices in war?
How much longer would [WWII] have gone on if we didn’t make horrible decisions?
All the fans love Daenerys, and she’s doing these things for the greater good.
“The signs have actually always been there,” Christie says of Daenerys.
“And they’ve been there in ways we felt at the time were just mistakes or controversial.
At this time, it’s important to question true motives.
“I think it’s going to divide,” Harington says of the finale’s fan reaction.
“But if you track her story all the way back, she does some terrible things.
She burns people alive.
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.'”
“The justification is: Just because they’re women, why should they be the goodies?
They’re the most interesting characters in the show.
And that’s whatThroneshas always done.
you could’t just say the strong women are going to end up the good people.
Dany is not a good person.
And when have you ever seen a woman play a dictator?”
There’s plenty of tragedy for Jon as well, he points out.
“That’s an awful thing.
This destroys Jon to do this.”
Understandably, she can’t quite bring herself to feel sorry for Jon Snow.
“Um, he just doesn’t like women does he?”
“He keeps fking killing them.
‘Oh, this great thing happened to me at work todayhello?
“You’re about to ask if meas Emiliadisagreed with her at any point,” Clarke intuits.
“It was a fking struggle reading the scripts.
Your character makes a choice and you gotta 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.
That was never going to happen.
She’s a Targaryen.”
“I thought she was going to die,” she continues.
“I feel very taken care of as a character in that sense.
It’s a very beautiful and touching ending.
See?She’s right there.
It’s time for her to go.
Clarke begins to walk away, turns around, breaks away from the staffer, and comes back.
There’s one last thing she wants you to know.
“But having said all of the things I’ve just said…” Clarke says.
“I stand by Daenerys.
I stand by her!
I can’t not.”
