‘Game of Thrones’ Star Emilia Clarke Opens Up About Daenerys’s Downfall and Almost Dying on Set

In the wake of the Game of Thrones series finale, star Emilia Clarke has opened up big time to the New Yorker, sharing everything from her original thoughts about Daenerys Targaryen’s heel turn to why she’s been terrified for months that Beyoncé, an avowed Khaleesi fan, would hate her. Clarke met the star at her Oscar party in February and, according to her, “All I wanted to scream was ‘Please, please still like me even though my character turns into a mass-killing dictator! Please still think that I’m representing women in a really fabulous way.'”

Clarke’s interview spans the full scope of her time as the Mother of Dragons, looking back at the trials of the early seasons, including moments where the double aneurysm survivor thought she’d die on set. “There were many moments where I would just take one of my hair or makeup girls aside and just go, ‘I think I’m dying, and I’m not. Can you just hold my hand? Could you just look at me and tell me that I’m all right?’ And they would look at me like I was mad and try and help me breathe through it,” Clarke says.

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Clarke shares that she actually thinks Daenerys’s descent makes sense given that she’s a victim of trauma, although she doesn’t enjoy fans calling her “The Mad Queen.” (Sorry, Emilia.) When asked about the petition to remake the final season, Clarke says that she would have preferred more scenes between Daenerys and Missandei, as well as with Cersei.

“The genocide was there. That was always going to happen. And I just think more dissection and those beautifully written scenes that the boys have between characters—that we are more than happy to contently sit there and watch ten minutes of two people talking, because it’s beautiful,” Clarke said.

However, her maybe most shocking admission? When asked which Season 1 scene was hardest to film she says, “This is a really weird sentence to come out of my mouth, but I’m going to do it: I couldn’t have been raped by anyone more lovely. Jason Momoa plays Khal Drogo. And the scene we had— I mean, he cried more than I did. It was brutal, and he was so kind and so caring. He was so protective of me that those scenes were actually manageable.”

She goes on to explain that Daenerys’s scene in the bath was harder because she didn’t have Momoa’s emotional support.

The whole interview is a must-read, and Clarke also clarifies her version of the infamous coffee cup incident — it’s not hers! — and is diplomatically mum on whether or not she thinks the spin-offs in production are cash grabs or not. “Oh, Christ. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that.”

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