It was season 1 episode 1 of the iconic show Game of Thrones when the world was introduced to the world of George R. R. Martin. In his world of Westeros and Essos, Emilia Clarke portrayed the role of Daenerys Targaryen in the iconic series.
The first scene of Daenerys begins with nudity as she takes a bath under the command of her brother Viserys Targaryen. Although the nudity gets less and less as seasons pass, Emilia Clarke wasn’t all that comfortable with it.
Emilia Clarke was unsure about George R.R. Martin’s world
Before her role in Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke was relatively a newcomer. Clarke hadn’t been on movie or series sets this big and was obviously quite nervous about her role.
Being 23 years old, the first season of Game of Thrones had plenty of scenes that required Daenerys Targaryen naked. Although nervous at first, Clarke felt that the scene emboldened her character, rather than making her vulnerable.
In an interview with Dax Shephard on his Armchair Expert podcast, the Me Before You actress stated that she didn’t know what was expected of her.
I’d been on a film set twice before then, 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.
However, this wasn’t the trouble for Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen. Although the nude scenes were sometimes necessary, overuse and necessity of nudity had a very fine line in between.
Clarke, who was obviously not that experienced with Hollywood, had to take some time to figure out which scenes were necessary which were not. This… eventually led to several on-set fights as well!
Emilia Clarke Had To Fight!
As the actress started gaining experience, the Last Christmas actress found confidence in her work and herself (much like Daenerys does in Game of Thrones).
This confidence eventually led the actress to say ‘no’ when she didn’t feel that the nude scene was necessary. Although this led to several on-set fights, Emilia Clarke fought for her dignity very fiercely (like a true dragon).
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*** you,’
Following her success in Game of Thrones, the actress was offered some iconic jobs. Although rejecting some and accepting some [roles], Clarke eventually joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Marvel’s Secret Invasion.
Game of Thrones ran for 8 seasons and received a rating of 9.2/10 on IMDB and a whopping 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. The iconic show is available to stream on Max as of 17th August 2024.
