“I'm flabbergasted”: When Emilia Clarke broke silence on Daenerys Targaryen’s shocking fate in Game of Thrones finale

The Game of Thrones series finale is counted among the most divisive moments in television history. After years of development, fan favorite Daenerys Targaryen had a change of character, becoming the queen of the ashes at the end. The plot left fans shocked, and the cast was equally surprised when they got to know how the epic saga was coming to an end.

Emilia Clarke, who starred as Daenerys Targaryen across all eight Seasons of Game of Thrones, talked about how she felt about her character’s shocking fate in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, shortly after the show’s conclusion in May 2019.

The actress revealed when she got the script for the final Season, she was flabbergasted to know Daenerys was going to burn King’s Landing down, despite the city surrendering to her army:

“[I was like] What, what, what, What!? Because it comes out of f****** nowhere. I'm flabbergasted. Absolutely never saw that coming.”

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Emilia Clarke revealed she cried after reading Game of Thrones finale’s script

In her interview, Emilia Clarke revealed she had just returned to her home in London in October 2017 when she received the script for Game of Thrones Season 8. When she found out how Daenerys Targaryen’s story is going to pan out in the finale, she cried and took some time to process the information:

“I cried. And I went for a walk. I walked out of the house and took my keys and phone and walked back with blisters on my feet. I didn't come back for five hours. I'm like, 'How am I going to do this?’”

Emilia added her co-star, Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow, learned about Daenerys turning into the Mad Queen and getting killed by Jon during the table read for Season 8. Like Emilia, Kit too cried on seeing the final episode’s script.

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Daenerys Targaryen’s actions had left fans disappointed

Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen was one of the main characters of Game of Thrones, who spent much of the time away from Westeros in building her army. The Mother of Dragons was seen as a breaker of chains who was empathetic towards people, unlike other lords of Westeros.

After losing much of her army and a dragon against the Night King, Daenerys marched toward King’s Landing to gain control over the capital. The city fell soon, and the path was clear for Daenerys to sit on the Iron Throne.

However, as the bells rang, Khaleesi started wreaking havoc in the city, burning anyone and everyone with her dragon and killing innocent civilians. In the Game of Thrones Season 8 finale, Jon Snow stabbed her to death, knowing that she had turned into a tyrant.

The whole character arc had left fans disappointed, and there was a huge backlash on social media against the series creators. Fans felt the final arc ruined the character after years of development, and some even demanded a remake of the final Season.

Based on George R. R. Martin’s novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, the HBO show also starred Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Iain Glen, Liam Cunningham, Carice van Houten, and Alfie Allen in pivotal roles.

Game of Thrones is available to stream on Max.