Emilia Clarke gets why people were “pissed” about Daenerys’ ending

It’s been over two years since the end of Game of Thrones, but fans are still talking about the shocking end to the series, which saw Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) burn down the city of King’s Landing, and then die at the hands of Jon Snow the episode after. It was divisive, to use the gentlest possible word.

Of late, Clarke is doing press to promote her comic book M.O.M. Mother of Madness, but naturally people are also asking her feelings about Game of Thrones. Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, Clarke said that it would have been “utterly impossible” for the ending to please everyone, but added that she understands why some fans felt angry.

“I get why people were p***ed. I totally get it,’ Clarke said. “But me being the actor, you can’t do justice to the character that you’ve poured your blood, sweat and tears into for a decade without getting on the same page. Do you know what I mean? So like, I’m not going to be there being like, ‘Fine, I’ll do the scene, whatever. So p***ed.'”

"You have to turn up. You have to turn up and you have to… because why? Because you’re doing it for you and you’re doing it for her and you’re doing it for the show and you’re doing it for the storytelling. So, I’m an actor. I get given a story and I need to tell that story. Yes, I have a certain amount of autonomy over what flavor that might take, but the editor decides what it looks like, and the writer decides what I’m saying, so you’ve just got to go in and try and give it as much truth and honesty and of yourself as you possibly can."

Emilia Clarke doesn’t read what fans are saying about Game of Thrones online

Clarke is taking a professional tac here, as expected, although she did admit to feeling the “gut punch” when she first read the scripts. Still, she couldn’t be sure how people would react. “You don’t know but you do wonder.”

Happily, she guaranteed that she wouldn’t be pulled into any of the furor surrounding the ending by doing what she’d always done since the start of the series: not read what people are saying about it. “Aside from what people were saying to me personally, I was completely largely unaware of what anyone was saying about anything, so when this kicked off, I kind of was like, well, I’m going to carry on doing what I’ve always done.’ Cause if you read everything on every Reddit page, I would have jumped out a window by now.”

The first issue of M.O.M. Mother of Madness on July 21.

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h/t Metro