Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke admits finale backlash left her ‘heartbroken’
EMILIA Clarke has finally addressed fans’ disappointment with the final season of Game of Thrones.
The actress, best known for playing Daenerys Targaryen on the hit Westeros drama, was murdered by love interest Jon Snow (Kit Harington) for her appalling siege on King’s Landing, during which she burned civilians alive from atop her dragon.
Her decline into bloodlust was slammed as “out of the blue” by many fans, who claimed her character’s blind rage came off as inauthentic.
In fact, the entire conclusion, which saw Bran Stark crowned king after the destruction of the Iron Throne, courtesy of Drogon, was panned as “rushed” and “oversimplified”.
Emilia admitted that during the show’s release she was so preoccupied with her own chaotic schedule that she didn’t really take critiques on board.
However, she stipulated that she was absolutely gutted on behalf of the show’s bosses, who she has a close relationship with.
“I was too busy focusing on my own reactions to really pay too much attention, if any at all,” she explained.
“The only thing I felt truthfully sad about was that [executive producers] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] are my really good friends, and so it’s for them that I feel heartbreak, because it’s theirs,” she added to The Telegraph’s Stellar magazine.
She did lament the final episodes’ poor reception, but admitted that dividing audiences was part and parcel of any TV show.
“Everyone is going to have their own opinion and they’re fully entitled to them. It’s art and it’s to be dissected and taken on in whatever individual way you wish,” she went on.
“And if you’re sad that the show is done and you’re sad because you enjoyed watching it, then that’s sad.
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“It sucks this wasn’t the perfect ending that people were hoping for, but I truly believe we would never have made everyone happy.”
The comments come after author George RR Martin, who penned the Song of Ice & Fire books upon which the series is based, called the process of cutting content for TV bosses “traumatic”.
Meanwhile director Neil Marshall, who worked on the show, conceded that “things weren’t set up properly” during the final season and agreed with fans’ complaints that writers rushed through tying up loose ends.
Perhaps saddest of all though, Bran actor Isaac Hempstead Wright revealed the cast’s WhatsApp group was “dead” as they all moved on to pastures new.