Emilia Clarke Sets the Record Straight on Game of Thrones Pay and Daenerys' Controversial Exit

Emilia Clarke has opened up about her time portraying Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones, tackling everything from her compensation to the character's divisive conclusion.

In an interview with Variety, the 39-year-old actress addressed persistent salary rumors that have circulated since the show's end. She confirmed that her earnings from the HBO series were substantial enough to cover her parents' mortgage, but she firmly pushed back against reports suggesting main cast members pocketed $300,000 per episode.

"We didn't earn that much. Can you imagine? I'd have been driving a couple of Porsches!" Clarke said.

The actress also reflected on the peculiar nature of the fame that accompanied her role. "I spent a lot of time trying to understand it," she explained, before offering her perspective on how celebrity works in television. "And then you realize it's just a formula: The less you're on TV, the less famous you are. It comes and it goes."

When discussing her involvement in creative decisions, Clarke was straightforward about her limitations. She noted that aside from her performance as an actor, she had no creative input on the series—nor did she seek it. She described the show's creators as "geniuses" and acknowledged that her younger self didn't feel equipped to contribute at that level.

The question of Daenerys' fate proved more emotionally charged. Clarke admitted she was "absolutely livid" about how the character's story concluded, but maintained that the creative team wouldn't have been swayed by her objections. She emphasized how meticulous the showrunners were about their vision, insisting actors deliver lines precisely as written—to the point where substituting "it is" for "it's" would warrant another take.

Despite her initial reaction to the ending, Clarke has worked through her feelings. "I was given the seasons, and I, to the best of my ability, empathized and understood and tracked every choice she made so it felt like mine. I felt like that was what my job was," she said of her approach to the role.

She concluded by expressing gratitude for the entire experience. "I have gone through every circuitous route to get to the place that I am now, which is finally being able to be very grateful for everything that Game of Thrones did and has given me. I no longer feel trapped in it, or trapped in the result of being in it. I feel just really lucky that it happened to me — even luckier that I've had time to understand what that was, and now I feel firmly on the other side."