Emilia Clarke admits she struggled after reading final 'Game of Thrones' scripts

Emilia Clarke has revealed she was “absolutely livid” when she first learned the fate of her Game of Thrones character, Daenerys Targaryen, admitting that she still feels emotional about the controversial ending years later.

The 39-year-old actress portrayed the Mother of Dragons throughout HBO’s hit fantasy series from 2011 to 2019.

In a recent interview with Variety, Clarke reflected on the final season and the moment her character was killed by Jon Snow, played by Kit Harington, as part of his decision to stop her from continuing her destructive path.

Recalling Daenerys’ final line, Clarke said her character told Jon, “We break the wheel together,” moments before the dramatic turn of events.

“That is the last thing I say before the cheeky little s*** stabs me,” she said. “F****** outrageous. I was so p*****. I was absolutely livid.”

Clarke admitted that while she understood the narrative direction, she was still personally disappointed by how Daenerys’ story concluded.

“Outside of the controversy around her actions, him killing me really bummed me out,” she said. “Kinda rude. I gave that man everything, burned cities to the ground for him, for us.”

She added that her initial reaction to reading the final scripts left her in shock. After returning from a holiday and receiving the scripts, Clarke said she immediately began reading through them, only to find herself overwhelmed by the outcome.

“I just landed from a holiday and turned my phone on,” she recalled.

“Went home, sat down and read them all the way through, and then found myself walking out of the house in a daze — forgot my keys, forgot my phone — and just walked for hours to try to assimilate what it was that I had to do that season.”

The actress also described struggling emotionally after the series concluded, saying the end of Game of Thrones marked a major turning point in her life and career.

“It was such a significant part of my life that was the entryway to my career,” Clarke said. “It’s taken me years to comprehend what it was, what it meant.”

She added that the combination of the show’s ending and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to what she described as an “existential crisis,” as she adjusted to life after the global phenomenon.

Despite her mixed emotions about Daenerys’ ending, Clarke said she remains grateful for the role that defined her career.

“I’m grateful to her,” she said. “She taught me a lot.”