HBO's fantasy epic "Game of Thrones" had very few happy endings to offer, killing beloved
characters left and right and upsetting fans in the process — allegedly, George R.R.
Martin approved those character arcs, or at the least didn’t overrule them, but still,
fans didn’t get the ending they wanted.
You can have your least favorite character ending, but certainly if you say that one
of the worst endings actually went to Daenerys Targaryen right at the end of the show, you’d
be hard pressed to find disagreement.
Played by English actress Emilia Clarke, the icy-haired, dragon-riding daughter of the
Mad King Aerys II Targaryen had one of the most epic character turns in TV history.
Early on, Dany appeared to be the ultimate Big Good for the show: She's headstrong, liberates
cities and takes care of others, faces hardships and comes out of them stronger than before.
At the time, she also seemed to have the most legitimate claim to rule the Seven Kingdoms.
But in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones and its controversial finale, Daenerys
does a full 180.
She and her followers — including her nephew-slash-lover Jon Snow — storm King's Landing, where Dany
uses her fire-breathing dragon to kill thousands and destroy everything in her path.
Daenerys' series-long protagonist arc ends in a hard-heel turn — and, ultimately, in
death, courtesy Jon Snow.
On one hand, having one of your most powerful and beloved characters abruptly descend into
madness and break bad is par for the course for "Game of Thrones."
Nevertheless, many fans feel that the arc was badly handled, and Daenerys' ultimate
fate was simply one of the things that went wrong with "Game of Thrones."
As such, it's interesting to hear just what Clarke herself thinks of the character's ultimate
fate — and, as it happens, she recently shared some of her views on the subject.
During an appearance on MTV News correspondent Josh Horowitz's podcast, Happy Sad Confused,
Emilia Clarke shared her views on the subject of the "Game of Thrones" finale.
It looks like she fully understands the criticism, but noted that her job as an actor requires
her to be "on the same page" with the series' creators and writers — regardless of how
she might feel.
"I get why people were pissed.
I totally get it."
She then opened up about her personal point of view, noting that she'd portrayed Daenerys
for eight seasons, so she was committed to play her well until the very end.
Clarke said,
"Me being the actor, you can't do justice to the character that you've poured your blood,
sweat, and tears into for a decade without getting on the same page [with the creative
decisions the team has made].
So, like, I'm not going to be there being, like, 'Pfft!
Fine, I'll do the scene, whatever.'
You have to turn up.
Because why?
Because you're doing it for you, and you're doing it for her, and you're doing it for
the show, and you're doing it for the storytelling."
Clarke added that while she does "have a certain autonomy over what flavor" she can bring to
the story she's tasked with telling, but the end product is ultimately out of her hands.
"The editor decides what it looks like, and the writer decides what I'm saying.
So you just gotta go in and try and give it as much truth and honesty ... and yourself
as you possibly can."
When Horowitz asked whether Clarke had suspicions that people would be upset over "Game of Thrones"
finale when she first saw the Season 8 scripts, the actress said,
"Well, the first instinct when you read the scripts is you just get that gut punch of
like, 'Whoa, okay!'
You're thinking about — your first reaction is that.
It's 'okay.'
And then you start to go, 'Oh.
Maybe people are going to ... mmm, yeah.'"
Clarke then admitted that she "wondered" whether people might enjoy the events of the series
finale, and revealed that she hadn't looked at any reviews for the show for the entire
time she was on it, nor any fan receptions for plot points, so she wasn't about to start
after the finale aired.
“YOU’RE A BIT LATE FOR THAT!”
Regardless, Clarke did take a very diplomatic approach to the situation.
One can certainly try to read between the lines on her meaning,
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about disappointing TV show endings coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don’t miss a single one.