Emilia Clarke Discusses Dany’s Final Scene

It’s the moment everyone will be discussing today. Dany, Instigator of Punk, Illustrator of Danger, Starter of Fires, took out the Temple of the Dosh Kasheen, every khal in attendance, and walked out wearing nothing but the best looking wig she’s had all season. Kneel before Zod? No, thanks. Kneel before Her. Some Khalessis just want to watch the world burn.

For Clarke, this scene was a landmark moment, not only because it sets to rest the question of if Dany is immune to fire. (Some might think that was established in the first season with all that dragon egg hatching, but since then George R.R. Martin has muddied the waters, talking about it as a sort of one-time magical event.) But the show has gone its own way, and here it has laid down the marker—immunity to fire is Dany’s “covert superpower.”

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Dan Weiss confirmed how much fun it was to call back to that first season finale.

"You know from the first season that, as you say, it’s her ‘superpower,’ but this is not really that type of story. It’s almost like the revelation she had when Jorah and Daario come to the rescue. She’s like, ‘Wait, I can do something none of these people can do and now that these two people can help me, I can use that to my advantage.’ It’s a very simple solution, a plan where you can use three people to take out dozens in a very dramatic way by just lighting things on fire and standing there."

But for Clarke, it was bringing about the “missing piece” that Dany need before crossing the Narrow Sea with the Dothraki hordes by her side. “The Dothraki are the missing piece of her crew – she’s seemingly indestructible having Dothraki on her side.”

But the real shock is that, once again, Dnay’s clothes have burned away. And after several seasons of rumors about Clarke refusing to do nudity, the actress shut them down.

I’d like to remind people the last time I took my clothes off was season 3. That was awhile ago. It’s now season 6. But this is all me, all proud, all strong. I’m just feeling genuinely happy I said ‘Yes.’ That ain’t no body double!

Not that Clarke stood in the middle of the Alcazar desert naked as a jaybird. Although most of the Dothraki camp scenes were filmed on location in the deserts of Spain, we knew from fan photos that the Temple had been recreated (and then pyro’d to the ground) a second time in Belfast. It turns out that second take in another country was deliberately done for Dany’s entrance in nothing but her wig.

Are they going to tell us spoilers?

As Clarke notes: “Taking off my clothes is not the easiest thing, but with the magic of the effects, I don’t have to do a season 1 and go on a cliff and do it. I’m in control of it.”

After seeing the sequence cut together a couple months ago, Benioff said: “Emilia absolutely crushed it. It’s one of those weird scenes because it was half shot in Spain, half in Belfast. But largely due to her performance, it works brilliantly.”

Personally, now that she has the Dothraki army she’s always needed, I’m ready for her to follow up with a brilliant return to Meereen. I know Tyrion’s going all “art of the deal” on the Masters, but I think Missandei and Grey Worm would prefer to have their Breaker of Chains come back and burn another residence to the ground, preferably with the Masters inside.