Seven years after ‘Game of Thrones‘ aired one of television’s most divisive finales, Emilia Clarke still hasn’t forgotten how awfully Daenerys Targaryen‘s story ended. While fans continue to debate the “Mad Queen” twist, the actress recently revisited the final episode with the same humor that has helped her look back on the series since the beginning.
The actress didn’t reignite the long-running debate over Daenerys burning King’s Landing. Instead, she jokingly focused on the man who ended her character’s life. Looking back on Jon Snow‘s decision to stab Daenerys in the series finale, Clarke laughed that after everything her character had done for him, the least he could have done was show a little appreciation.
Emilia Clarke Jokes About Jon Snow Killing Daenerys
During a May 2026 interview with Variety, Clarke revisited Daenerys’ final moments. She recalled one of her last lines from the series, “We break the wheel together.” The memory quickly brought her back to Jon Snow’s (played by Kit Harington) betrayal in the finale.
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“That is the last thing I say before the cheeky little s— stabs me,” Clarke said, laughing. She also admitted she still finds Jon’s decision frustrating. “F—ing outrageous. I was so pissed. I was absolutely livid.”
She then joked that, regardless of the controversy surrounding Daenerys’ actions, Jon’s betrayal remained the part she struggled with the most. “Outside of the controversy around her actions, him killing me really bummed me out.”
“Kinda rude. I gave that man everything, burned cities to the ground for him, for us.” Clarke even pretended she had completely moved on before immediately jumping back to her stance. “I’m over it, clearly. I’m so over it, it’s unreal. Livid.”
The Ending Took Clarke Years To Process
Later in the interview, Clarke revealed how overwhelming it felt when she first learned how ‘Game of Thrones’ would end. After returning from a holiday, she turned on her phone, found the final-season scripts waiting for her, and sat down to read them in one sitting.
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“Went home, sat down and did what I always do, which is read them all the way through, and then found myself walking out of the house in a daze—forgot my keys, forgot my phone, forgot everything—and just walked for hours to try to assimilate what it was that I had to do that season.”
She described filming the final season as emotionally different from wrapping any previous project because the show had shaped both her career and her life. “It was kind of super, super intense,” Clarke said of the show’s ending, followed closely by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The situation left her questioning everything. “It’s taken me years to comprehend what it was. It’s taken me years to comprehend what it meant.” Despite the emotional farewell and the lingering jokes about Jon Snow, Clarke said she remains grateful for what the series gave her.
Reflecting on Daenerys, she said, “I’m grateful to her. She taught me a lot.” In a 2024 interview, she added that the more time passes, the more she realizes the HBO show was “incredibly special” and “incredibly rare,” even if she still hasn’t fully wrapped her head around its lasting impact.
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