Harper’s Bazaar cover girl Emilia Clarke talks nudity on Game of Thrones, dating, and career

Few things can compete with Game of Thrones when it comes to pop cultural market share, but Star Wars is one of them. In 2018, Emilia Clarke’s life will be dominated by them. As she films the last season of Thrones, Solo: A Star Wars Story will open in May.

Gracing the cover of Harper’s Bazaar’s December/January issue, Clarke talked about what it means to be part of these hugely successful franchises in this day in age. According to her, it’s less pressure than it used to be. “We are in this era where the movie star is less than the movie.”

And Clarke is both a movie star and a TV star, so she’s learned a thing or two about handling the pressures of fame over the years. “I think in the early days I second-guessed everyone,” she said. “I mean, I do that in life anyway, but especially with fame and becoming successful, and strangers knowing you more than your circle of friends, I would worry about what people thought of me. Then you get to a point where you’re like, ‘You know what? I’m okay.’”

She can still get heated about things, though, like the oft-repeated idea that Game of Thrones, the show that jump-started her career as an actress, is nothing more than “tits and dragons.”

"I’m starting to get really annoyed about this stuff now because people say, ‘Oh, yeah, all the porn sites went down when Game of Thrones came back on.’ I’m like, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale?’ I fucking love that show, and I cried when it ended because I couldn’t handle not seeing it. That is all sex and nudity. There are so many shows centered around this very true fact that people reproduce. People fuck for pleasure—it’s part of life."

As for her personal life, Clarke is approaching romance in a new way after confronting what Harper’s calls “the reality of fizzled relationships.” “You’d love to believe there is just one,” Clarke says. “There is ‘the one’ for particular parts of your life—you change as you get older. So when I was in my teens, there was ‘the one’ for my teens, for sure, and then, you know, there’s ‘the one’ for the next time of your life.”

If fame and fortune have made it tricky to date, they have their upsides, too, just as affording Clarke the opportunity to grow her burgeoning art collection.

"When I started to earn money, I’d buy prints. I’ve got a Matisse that is, like, one of 1,002, and is vaguely affordable. I like female artists and pieces inspired by women. Now I’m trying to buy actual pieces, but I can’t afford name artists."

Between Star Wars and Thrones, we’re guessing Clarke will be able to afford more than a few “actual pieces” in the years to come. Clarke’s issue of Harper’s Bazaar hits newsstands November 28th.

Next: Season 8 filming: The Unsullied prepare for battle, and closer looks at the sets

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