Emilia Clarke was sometimes “really sad” working on Game of Thrones

Emilia Clarke played Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones for all eight seasons, becoming a household name in the process. The show was a pop culture phenomenon, and Daenerys was at the center of everything.

It was an intense role to play, and a lot happened in Clarke’s life while she was playing it. She had two aneurysms, lost her father, and got a crash course on fame, fortune and Hollywood. “All of that happening while ‘Game of Thrones’ was happening, it sometimes could be very confusing,” Clarke told the Los Angeles Times. “There were times when I was really sad on that show, just simply because I was a young woman in her 20s.”

With a few years between her and the series finale, Clarke is better able to put the experience in perspective and appreciate how remarkable it was, and how iconic a character she got to play. “It’s not a shabby role to be associated with,” she said. “Daenerys, I hope, is associated with a certain caliber of work, so lucky me that that’s the case. As long as people don’t ask me about nudity.”

Emilia Clarke feels “lucky” to be associated with Daenerys Targaryen

You can currently see Clarke on the new Marvel show Secret Invasion, airing on Disney+. She plays G’iah, a shape-shifting Skrull alien who has grown tired of living in secret alongside Earthlings and is now part of a movement to take over the planet, although she ends up turning double agent and helping the humans.

What made Clarke want to join the MCU? “The cast is ridiculous,” she said. “Olivia Colman, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Don Cheadle. I was like ‘where do I sign?’” Fair.

Clarke also spoke her piece about people acting against green screens, something that happens a lot in these kinds of shows. “The stigma is that people don’t do any acting in these shows and then you’re like ‘well, then why are they asking all these great actors to do it, and why are they saying yes?’”

One thing she didn’t address is what happened to G’iah in the most recent episode, and whether she’ll be back for another. I guess we’ll just have to watch the new episode next Wednesday to find out.

Emilia Clarke reveals why she joined Secret Invasion

Clarke has a lot of other projects in the works, including a biopic about Joseph McCarthy — she plays McCarthy’s wife — and a movie called An Ideal Wife, where she plays Oscar Wilde’s wife. She also has a lot of TV projects in the works where she may or may not play the wives of famous people.

“I needed different characters,” said Clarke. “I needed different experiences. I just want to try and do as many different things as possible. I just want to keep broadening and reaching for the things that I haven’t had a chance to do before. With each new experience [and] every year that passes, you have more to play with as an actor.”

Odds are we’ll be watching Clarke do her thing for years to come.

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