“I did a lot of self-exploration through Daenerys. She was pushed to extreme limits as a woman and I’ve been through a similar process”
Funny and fearless are two adjectives that could best be applied to Emilia Clarke. But now there’s a sense of lingering sadness that comes with the realisation that her journey of self-discovery on Game of Thrones has come to a close. This April, the wildly successful and pathbreaking HBO series begins its eighth and final season and will surely attract one of the most massive global audiences in the history of TV. Clarke advised her fans to prepare for an epic climax: “Season 8 is badass…It’s everything – times a hundred – of what we’ve already seen. Your TV is just going to explode!”
Like so many of her fellow cast mates, Clarke is experiencing the inevitable emotional fallout accompanying the end of an era. According to her, filming the final six episodes made “everything feel more intense” and “only now am I beginning to understand what this past decade has meant.”
While shooting a scene in the concluding Season 8, Clarke experienced a wave of melancholy sweeping over her: “It suddenly hits you…This is it!” She added: “I had a scene with someone and I turned to him and said, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to do this ever again,’ and that brought tears to my eyes.”
Of course, the 32-year-old Clarke is accustomed to the seismic shifts that come with being one of the central characters in one of the most widely watched TV series of all time. She parachuted into the role as a neophyte actress who had just graduated from drama school with almost no professional experience. Yet within a year she had emerged as one of Game of Thrones leading players. Ten years later, the petite (5’2”) British actress feels profoundly empowered by her time on the show and how she has evolved alongside her character.
“It’s an iconic role that has been incredibly inspiring,” Clarke says. “At first Dany was facing a submissive kind of life and it’s been so beautiful and wonderful to watch her evolve into a fighter and a symbol of female strength. She’s a leader and fighter and survivor. One of the most compelling aspects to her is that she combines the strength of a man with the sensitivity of a woman.”
“I try to embrace as much of Dany’s fearlessness and her sense of determination and purpose as I can. But deep down that’s not my nature. I have a very easy-going and vulnerable side that will always be who I am. (Over the years) I’ve become much better at asserting myself though and I feel more secure and sure of myself.”
Shooting the last episodes, however, was a traumatic and cathartic event not only for Clarke but also for her Game of Thrones co-stars including Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) and Kit Harrington (Jon Snow). Said Headey: “There was a great sense of grief. It’s a huge sense of loss, like we’ll never have anything like this again.”
For his part, Harrington recalls that he refused to read the script for the final episide of the concluding Season 8 until the very last moment. When he reached the final page, tears began pouring down his face: “Every season, you read at the end of the last script ‘End of Season 1,’ or ‘End of Season 2,’” Harrington observed. “This read ‘End of Game of Thrones.’”
On her last day on set, Clarke has confessed that she “cried like a baby” knowing that she would never return to the dragons, the epic, blood-drenched battles, and the heavy blonde wig as Daenerys: “Ten years is a long time. It’s like losing an actual limb. I was 22 — a child — when I first walked on the Game Of Thrones set. I grew up with the character….[and now] it’s over.”
“Ten years is a long time. It’s like losing an actual limb. I was 22 — a child — when I first walked on the Game Of Thrones set. I grew up with the character….and now it’s over”
– EMILIA CLARKE
Do you think that Daenerys will always be a part of your own identity?
Emilia Clarke: Yes, we’ve grown up together. We were two helpless girls at the beginning and then she evolved into a warrior and I’ve evolved into an established actress. I did a lot of self-exploration through Daenerys. She was pushed to extreme limits as a woman and I’ve been through a similar process, facing up to my insecurities in order to overcome them. It’s been such an engrossing process that I would sometimes wake up at three in the morning and still be living the part. I do not think I’ll ever completely cut myself off from her.
The producers of Game of Thrones have been very vigilant about preventing leaks or giving away any plot details about Season 8…
EC: Even the cast doesn’t really know how the final season will end. We shot different endings and there are many different strands of the story and so many characters that only a few of us have an idea about what really happens in terms of the overall picture.
I think everyone will be sad in one way or another, including the fans who have followed the series for so long. The feeling of loss that comes with the end is only natural. But there will also be a sense of having been part of an extraordinary journey.
You must feel the same way?
EC: Yeah, sure. I think just like with the fans, it will be hard for me and the other people who have worked on Game of Thrones to let go. The series has meant a lot to me and to stop doing it means no longer being around all the people who have been part of it and become like a family to me.
It’s like the feeling you get when you finish school. There’s a sadness to it, but at the same time you’ve always known that it will one day come to an end and you will have to move on to the next chapter in your life. I’m also enjoying being able to spend time with many of my friends in London whom I really haven’t been able to see that much over the years.
Has all the travelling and shooting in distant locations on GoT and other big films like Star Wars been difficult for you at times?
EC: Yes, definitely. There was a time when I was becoming very homesick and I was crying a lot. It was a reaction to the sense of not having a steady life and not feeling attached to anything apart from your work. But then you get over that and learn to appreciate all the good things about this kind of job and how lucky you are to have these opportunities.
And when I’ve been working on other projects and I’m away from London for long periods I try to bring my family and friends with me. That makes it so much more fun for me. It creates a kind of expanded nest around me where I feel more grounded and supported. It helps a lot. One time when I was shooting in Egypt, I took my mom and my brother with me. They came for a short while and then they came back again to visit me while I was working. It was a beautiful and comforting experience to have them there by my side.
Does it ever hit you that you’ve been one of the central characters in one of the greatest TV series in history?
EC: Sometimes it’s difficult to for me to believe how lucky I’ve been. This series has given me the kind of role that every actress dreams of getting. I never imagined while I was working at this terrible call-centre [the job she was working at before she auditioned for GoT] that I would get a part on Game of Thrones, much less get to play a major character. Even when I was told that I was going to play Daenerys, I had no idea it would turn out to be so important. 
What did your parents say when you told them you intended to be an actress?
EC: My father was very honest and direct. He said: “Ah yes? OK. You can do what you want. But you should be aware that very few people are able to make a living at it. If you understand that though and are willing to stick to it, we support you.”
I always knew I would be able to succeed somehow. And my parents knew that I was serious about acting. And when they found out that I was going to work on Game of Thrones, they were like: “Fantastic! She found a job!” But they had no idea what the job was or what the series was about. Hollywood was some kind of alien world.
What’s the best thing about your success?
EC: (Laughs) Not having to work as a waitress and bartender, for a start. Working late nights was terrible because I like getting up early. But I was lucky because I had finished only a year at the drama school in London when I auditioned and was given the role of Danaerys. I also hated working at that call-center and my first thought was how thrilled I was that I didn’t have to do that job anymore.
Do you get a lot of fan mail from young women or who come up to you and feel inspired by your portrayal of Daenerys?
EC: Yes. That’s a wonderful page of my job. I enjoy being able to reach people through my work and maybe help give them confidence and empower them to achieve their dreams.
Self-confidence and self-belief are very important issues for young women and I am very proud that I have had the chance to play a woman who has transformed herself from a girl with low self-esteem into a much more powerful and confident young woman. She’s a great example to young women, I think.
Is there a key to being both a smart and successful woman?
EC: I think as women we need to embrace our strength as well as our vulnerability and sensitivity.
You’ve said that playing Daenerys has changed you and empowered you. Can you be more specific?
EC: Daenerys brought out qualities that were already in me but which I had never been able to develop and use to my advantage. Playing her certainly helped me become more self-confident and learn to stand up for myself.
I think playing a character like that makes it impossible not to be affected by her temperament and to learn to be bolder in life. You want to be able to draw on those sides of Daenerys. But of course we’re two different people, and at the end of the day, I go back to being myself and I have a lot easier life than she has.
How would you compare your own character to hers?
EC: I try to embrace as much of Dany’s fearlessness and her sense of purpose but deep down that’s not my nature. I have a very easy-going and vulnerable side that will always be who I am. But I’m much better at asserting myself and I feel that things are going so well for me and I’m able to enjoy everything about my life now more than ever.
” Sometimes it’s difficult for me to believe how lucky I’ve been. This series has given me the kind of role that every actress dreams of getting. ”
– EMILIA CLARKE
INTERVIEW BY WENN
PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY
