At long last, Game Of Thrones has sealed its chapter, with the series finale airing Sunday night.
As has been the norm in this final season, showrunners left fans with a shock ending to close things out once and for all. Judging from the massive outcry via social media, it's yet another point that fans have taken issue with especially as it relates to the role of Daenerys Targaryen this season.
Post-show, Entertainment Weekly published an exclusive with Emilia Clarke as the actress stood by the character she has portrayed for eight years, shining a light on the complexity of Dany and why her ultimate demise made sense in the end.
"After 10 years of working on this show, it’s logical. Where else can she go?" she tells the publication. "I tried to think what the ending will be. It’s not like she’s suddenly going to go, ‘Okay, I’m gonna put a kettle on and put cookies in the oven and we’ll just sit down and have a lovely time and pop a few kids out.’ That was never going to happen. She’s a Targaryen.”
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She went on the rationalize that Jon Snow served as the flimsy thread that kept Dany hinged. With this betrayal, she explains, Dany's transition into the Mad Queen once and for all was only inevitable.
"She’s too far down the line. She’s killed so many people already. I can’t turn this ship around. It’s too much," she adds. "One by one, you see all these strings being cut. And there’s just this last thread she’s holding onto: There’s this boy. And she thinks, ‘He loves me, and I think that’s enough.'... it’s just that hope and wishing that finally there is someone who accepts her for everything she is and … he f—king doesn’t.”
Clarke also went on to note that Dany's death in the script was a shock to her when she first read, adding that she cried and went on a walk for at least five hours. Nevertheless, the actress stands by every move that her on-screen character made.
“I stand by Daenerys," declares Clarke. "I stand by her! I can’t not.”