Like the elevated-overnight Khaleesi, Emilia Clarke learned on the go as her character’s power trip became the focal point of the show, racking up four Emmy nominations in the process.
Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, became so popular that Beyoncé, Mother of Blue Ivy, once came up to her and said, “Oh, my goodness, it’s so wonderful to meet you. I think you’re brilliant.”
Ahead of the premiere of GOT‘s final season in 2019, Clarke revealed in a New Yorker essay that, years beforehand, she had suffered two aneurysms after filming the show’s first season and underwent brain surgery at 24.
“It saved my life, literally,” she wrote of the life-changing series. “The entire show, the family that is a part of this show, and the show itself, saved me, and Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons, saved my life for sure.”
After Jon Snow put an end to Danaery’s fiery power trip on the series finale, Clarke has since starred in the twisty tear-jerker Last Christmas and played Nina in a West End production of Chekhov’s The Seagull.
