'Game of Thrones' Star Emilia Clarke's Emotional Goodbye to Daenerys Will Break You
Just one week after HBO aired its final episode of Game of Thrones, fans were treated to a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the show’s eighth and final season in the documentary The Last Watch. If you tuned in, you definitely saw how Kit Harington reacted to that shocking Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen scene in the finale—but there’s also there’s a good chance you’re still sobbing over Emilia Clarke‘s emotional goodbye to Dany. Truly nothing could have prepared viewers for the footage that shows the actress getting her hair done and the moment hitting her hard.
“There’s definitely an exhale of breath,” she tells her hairdresser, Candice Banks, as she gets her blonde wig put on for the last time ever. “It’s kind of exciting to sort of think: ‘Oh, who am I without this, then?’ I wonder.”
“That was Emilia’s last shot on Game of Thrones,” a crew member announces in the next clip after Clarke finishes up her final scene. She later hugs showrunner Dan Weiss and co-star Maisie Williams before heading back to her trailer to discover that someone had written “Goodbye Dany, Hello Emilia” on her mirror.
It’s safe that no matter how fans really felt about the series finale, it’s hard not to get emotional over Clarke’s goodbye.
If that wasn’t enough, she also bid farewell to Dany last week on Instagram, thanking her for shaping her “as a woman, as an actor, and as a human being.”
“Finding the words to write this post has left me overwhelmed with how much I want to say but how small words feel in comparison to what this show and Dany have meant to me. The mother of dragons chapter has taken up the whole of my adult life. This woman has taken up the whole of my heart,” she wrote. “But to you, dear kind magical fans, I owe you so much thanks, for your steady gaze at what we’ve made and what I’ve done with a character that was already in the hearts of many before I slipped on the platinum wig of dreams.
“Without you there is no us. And now our watch has ended,” she concluded.
Although there’s no more Khaleesi (or is there?), at least fans can hold out for the forthcoming Game of Thrones prequel that’s reportedly in the works at HBO.