Emilia Clarke was told that refusing to do nude scenes would 'disappoint' GOT fans

emilia clarke game of thrones

Emilia Clarke was one of Game of Thrones' breakout stars. The actress played fan favourite Daenerys Targaryen for eight seasons, and - spoiler alert - many were outraged when she was bumped off by her lover, Jon Snow, in the finale.

Since playing the Mother of Dragons she has become one of the most sought-after actresses on the planet, going on to star in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Me Before You and most recently Last Christmas.

However, Emilia has opened up about her Hollywood experience and admitted that it was difficult to find her voice when she started out. In the earlier seasons of GoT, the star filmed nude scenes - but she recently revealed that she was told she would 'disappoint' fans if she refused to do them.

She told The Independent: 'I’ve had fights on set before where I’m like, "No, the sheet stays up," and they’re like, "You don’t wanna disappoint your Game of Thrones fans." And I’m like, "F**k you."'

'I’d come fresh from drama school, and I approached [it] as a job – if it’s in the script then it’s clearly needed, this is what this is and I’m gonna make sense of it.

emilia clarke

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'So I came to terms with that beforehand, but then going in and doing it... I’m floating through this first season and I have no idea what I’m doing, I have no idea what any of this is.

'I’ve never been on a film set like this before... and I’m now on a film set completely naked with all of these people, and I don’t know what I’m meant to do and I don’t know what’s expected of me, and I don’t know what you want and I don’t know what I want.'

Emilia also spoke to marieclaire.co.uk about her rise to fame, saying: 'The fame, fortune, high achievement stakes that everyone strives after – that’s not the end of the rainbow. That’s not it. That’s so not it, it’s unreal. I’ve lost my anonymity, but people who haven’t can chat to someone who’s homeless on the street, you can chat to someone who works in the pub, to your cabby, to your bus driver, whoever it is.

'You can have those human interactions every day and as soon as you do – by saying ‘you alright mate?’ and making eye contact with someone, you realise that there’s someone else in the world aside from you and your phone and whatever Twittersphere is going on.'

Hear, hear.

Jadie Troy-Pryde
News Editor

Jadie Troy-Pryde is News Editor, covering celebrity and entertainment, royal, lifestyle and viral news. Before joining the team in 2018 as the Lifestyle and Social Media Editor, she worked at a number of women’s fashion and lifestyle titles including Grazia, Women’s Health and Stylist, and now heads the Marie Claire UK news desk.