More than a decade after the dragons first took flight, Emilia Clarke is setting the record straight. The 39-year-old actress, who portrayed the iconic Daenerys Targaryen for eight seasons on HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones‘, has officially debunked long-standing rumors that she and her co-stars earned $300,000 per episode.
Emilia Clarke Calls the $300K Figure “Wildly Exaggerated”
In a recent interview with Variety, Clarke addressed the speculation head-on, dismissing the famous figure as a “wildly exaggerated” myth. While the internet has long accepted the $300,000 number as fact regarding the show’s peak, the star insists the reality was far more modest. “We didn’t earn that much,” Clarke told the outlet, laughing off the suggestion. “Can you imagine? I’d have been driving a couple of Porsches!”
Related: ‘The Boys’ Season 5 Finale Is Being Called The Next ‘Game of Thrones’ Disappointment
The rumor of the $300,000 per episode paycheck has been a staple of entertainment reporting since approximately 2014, when reports surfaced that the network had renegotiated deals for its core five stars, Clarke, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Clarke did not provide an exact counter-number regarding her actual paycheck. However, while the Porsche jokes suggest she wasn’t hurting for cash, she revealed that the money she did earn provided her with a specific, meaningful form of security, including paying off her parents’ mortgage.
“I was given the seasons, and I, to the best of my ability, empathised and understood and tracked every choice she made so it felt like mine,” Clarke said of her legacy, adding that financial stability was a welcome side effect of the grueling production.
Pay Parity and the Tiered System on ‘Game of Thrones’
Despite the confusion over the exact dollar amount, Clarke was unequivocal about one specific aspect of her contract: parity. She reconfirmed a stance she took during a 2018 appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, stating definitively that she was always paid the same as her male counterparts. “It was my first job, and I was not discriminated against because I was a woman, in my paycheck,” Clarke said.
In case you missed it: ‘Game of Thrones’ Actress Hannah Murray Opens Up About Psychotic Breakdown After Joining Wellness Cult
The disparity between the rumors and reality may stem from the fact that while Clarke’s base salary might have been lower, some of her castmates were actually hitting those massive numbers, just not for ‘Game of Thrones‘ paychecks.
Court documents from a 2018 legal dispute involving Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) revealed that the actor made $1.07 million per episode for at least six episodes of the final season.
However, context is key. That figure was released years after the show ended, and it is widely believed to represent backend profits and massive contract renegotiations for the final run, not the standard rate for the bulk of the series. Meanwhile, Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) previously clarified the tiered system of the show, noting in a 2019 interview that while Kit Harington earned more due to a larger storyline, she made $175,000 per episode.
For Clarke, however, the money (whatever the actual number) is secondary to the experience. “I spent a lot of time trying to understand it,” she said of the fame from the series. “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.”
You might also want to read: “It Destroyed Me”: Emilia Clarke Reveals Cruel Hospital Moment That Broke Her After ‘Game of Thrones’ Fame
