Twelve times Game of Thrones stars should’ve won Emmys but didn’t
By Dan Selcke
Image: Game of Thrones/HBO
Emilia Clarke: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series — “The Bells”
Emilia Clarke carried season 8. I don’t want to to open up any old wounds here, but the way I saw it, the scripts for the final seasons didn’t do enough heavy lifting when it came to convincing us that Daenerys Targaryen could burn hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians to ash, so it fell to Clarke sell this turn. Did she succeed? That’s a topic for another post, but she gave a herculean effort that deserves recognition.
The key scene has to be when Daenerys is on Drogon’s back in “The Bells,” the battle for King’s Landing won. She sees the Red Keep, her face contorts in rage, and she decides to give herself over to her darkest instincts. It’s a baffling, horrifying, gripping scene, and it’s all thanks to Clarke.
Clarke was doing excellent work the whole season long, whether it was her trying to reach across the aisle in the early episodes or staring out the window at Dragonstone, dead-eyed and far away, before she imploded. And in her final scene in “The Iron Throne,” she brought back a bit of the starry-eyed Daenerys we knew and loved, which was heartrending to watch.
I’ll admit it’s still hard for me to look past what I see as execution problems with Daenerys’ final arc, but Clarke’s brilliance shines through the fog.
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I know I didn’t include every cast member worthy of Emmy consideration on this list. Sophie Turner grew a ton in the role of Sansa Stark while on the show, Pedro Pascal stole and spotlight as Oberyn Martell, Charles Dance could wither you with a glare as Tywin Lannister, Natalie Dormer pitched her performance as Margaery Tyrell down a shaded middle path where we were never quite sure of her intentions, and on and on. Frankly, the show was an embarrassment of acting riches for eight straight seasons, and even if Emmy voters didn’t give the cast its full due, the fans will always remember.
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