How Emilia Clarke Really Feels About Daenerys' Ending In Game Of Thrones
by Devin Meenan · /Film"The Iron Throne," the series finale to "Game of Thrones," was panned upon first airing, and time hasn't softened opinions of it. "Game of Thrones" is often considered to have one of the worst TV series finales ever, a sad end to its reign as the most popular television in the world. Emilia Clarke's nervous grin on the red carpet and insincere cry of "Best season ever!" has become a go-to moment for "Game of Thrones" fans arguing even the actors didn't like the final season.
Clarke's character, Daenerys Targaryen, has one of the most hated endings on "Game of Thrones." The daughter of deposed Westeros monarch Aerys "The Mad King" Targaryen, Daenerys spends seasons trying to not only restore her family's dynasty but also end oppression and slavery. ("Break the wheel," she says.) When she gets to Westeros in Season 7, she falls for Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who is secretly her nephew. (Oops!) That is the beginning of her downfall.
In the eighth season of "Game of Thrones," Daenerys goes mad herself, devastating the city of King's Landing with her dragon, Drogon, and then looking to conquer everywhere else. Her ambitions are cut short when Jon stabs her after she proposes that they "break the wheel together." A common criticism of the ending is that the season was too short to earn Dany's heel turn, and it was an improper conclusion to her mostly heroic course as a character. Clarke voiced her own criticisms in a recent interview with Variety.
Discussing Dany's last words to Jon, Clarke reveals she was "livid" about her character's fate. When she first read the "Game of Thrones" Season 8 scripts, she recalled, she walked out of her house in a daze to process what she'd have to act out.
Why Emilia Clarke was 'livid' at Daenerys' death on Game of Thrones
In Emilia Clarke's full video with Variety (see below), she was quizzed on lines from movies and television she's starred in and if she still recognizes. Unsurprisingly, she still remembers Dany's last words to Jon: "We break the wheel together."
"Yes, Khaleesi, that is the last thing I say before the cheeky little sh*t stabs me. F***ing outrageous, I was so p*ssed. I was absolutely livid. [...] Outside of the controversy of [Dany's] actions, him killing me really bummed me out. Kind of rude. I gave that man everything, I burned cities to the ground for him, for us, so we can [break the wheel together.]"
Now, granted, from Clarke's comments, it's not totally clear if she's upset that the character's journey was poorly written, or if she's just naturally bummed Dany didn't get a happy ending — and that her nephew-boyfriend is the one who betrayed and killed her. Compare Sophie Turner; her character, Sansa Stark, got to be queen of the North, so it's no surprise Turner was happy with her ending on "Game of Thrones."
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) has also declined to indulge in fan outrage over "Game of Thrones" Season 8, simply saying, "Someone told you a story and you didn't like the ending." There's also the fact that "Game of Thrones" Season 8 was a bit like trying to build a house without the blueprints. Author George R.R. Martin's original "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga was and remains unfinished. Martin has said his ending will be different than the show's, but with no publication date for "The Winds of Winter" in sight, the onscreen ending to Daenerys Targaryen's story might be the only one there ever is.