If you’ve been living under a (Casterly) Rock since last year, there are Game of Thrones spoilers below.
Game Of Thrones ended with Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, the Breaker of Chains, the Drinker of Coffees, on the floor of the throne room, dead at the hands of lover/nephew Jon Snow. And now Emilia Clarke has spoken.
Talking with The Times about heading to the West End for Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, Emilia recently reflected on the controversial final season of the show, revealing there was one thing that “annoyed” her too about Daenerys’ end.
“Yeah, I felt for her. I really felt for her,” Emilia said. “And yeah, was I annoyed that Jon Snow didn’t have to deal with something?” She lets us out an exasperated laugh. “He got away with murder — literally.”
In the show, Jon Snow’s punishment for killing his queen/aunt amounts to a grand total of diddly-squat. Instead of being beheaded, he was sent to the Wall, where he got to hang out with his friends and his dog all day and likely became King Beyond The Wall. It was basically the equivalent of being sent to your room as a kid, where all you have is a PS4 and strong Wi-Fi connection.
Of course, fans were annoyed by much more in seriesn eight, including everything from the season feeling rushed and not explaining things to how dark it was to Daenerys, who spent the previous seven seasons rising from the ashes to become the potential ruler of Westeros, burning it all to the ground in the span of one episode.
Emilia addressed the fan controversy saying the horrific news cycle may have had something to do with it.
She said: “Because people are going, finally, here’s something I can actually see and understand and get some control back over ... and then when that turns, and you don’t like what they’ve done.”
However, the actor agreed the show could’ve been “spun” a little longer and that more attention was given to set pieces than dialogue.
Reflecting on her thoughts on the end, Emilia said she felt like a “small cog in a very, very, very big machine.”
On the bright side for the Mother of Dragons, Tormund actor Kristofer Hivju recently revealed Jon Snow’s ending might not be as happy as we all suspect. Also, Drogon didn’t eat her, so there’s that too.