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Rise to Fame
She wasn't even the first choice. Tamzin Merchant shot the original Game of Thrones pilot as Daenerys before HBO ordered a reshoot and recast the part. Clarke, in her third professional role, had to hold two completely different versions of the same character: the frightened girl sold into a political marriage and the queen who burns cities. Showrunner David Benioff said 'Only Emilia made both work.' Four Emmy nominations followed, which suggests he wasn't wrong.
In the Spotlight
Post-Game of Thrones, the career has been scattered. Terminator: Genisys didn't land, Me Before You showed she could carry a romantic drama, and Secret Invasion for Marvel was a misfire that landed at 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. She hasn't found a second defining role yet. Upcoming work includes a heist thriller for Prime Video and an Oscar Wilde-adjacent period drama. The finale still follows her around. She was 'flabbergasted' reading those last scripts and spent five hours walking it off, which tells you something about how that character got under her skin.
Side Notes
She survived two brain aneurysms, the first in February 2011, right after Game of Thrones Season 1 wrapped. She kept filming for years before going public in a 2019 New Yorker essay. The detail that lands hardest: she's since said quite a bit of her brain is 'missing' and she's surprised she can still speak. She founded SameYou for brain injury and stroke survivors, and after the GoT finale, fans ran a 'Justice for Daenerys' fundraiser that raised over £83,000 for it. Not a bad trade for a bad ending.