Emilia Clarke Describes The MCU As The Best Franchise She's Ever Been A Part Of After Being Left "Naked And Shivering" On The Set Of Game Of Thrones

They "used to leave her naked and alone to find her own way back to her dressing room."

Stephanie

• Published in Interesting
• August 18, 2023

The press tour for the new Marvel series, Secret Invasion, has been well underway this month. And an interview with one of its stars, Emilia Clarke, has stirred up some controversy from her time on the long-running series, Game of Thrones.

In a recent interview, Emilia described the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the best franchise she has ever been a part of. This, of course, is poignant when you remember Emilia had her first big break on HBO's epic series, Game of Thrones.

"It’s just the best. It’s such a pedigree in its own right, it lives on its own level that is separate from everything else," Emilia said of the MCU. "Game of Thrones was such a unique experience for me because we didn't know what the hell we were doing most of the time," she continued.

"Then it just became this big thing, and we just rode that journey all the way," Emilia explained. And it seems the actress's comments have compelled some of her fans to take a look back at her highly publicized time on GoT.

Of course, Emilia played Daenerys Targaryen in the show. She was the Queen of Dragons, but she was also a 16-year-old girl who was sold into marriage in the first episode.

At that time, Emilia had only ever stepped foot on two other film sets and was just 23 years old, fresh out of drama school. In the first few episodes of GoT, the shy actress was required to film multiple full-frontal nude scenes.

Of course, the most notorious of these was the pilot episode where Daenerys is violently raped by her new husband, Drogo. Emilia, being new to the industry, was uncomfortable at the time speaking up for herself when it came to how these difficult scenes were filmed.

Recently, some of Emilia's comments resurfaced when a fan tweeted about her time on GoT. The tweet said that GoT's showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss "used to leave her naked and alone to find her own way back to her dressing room."

It seems the tweet was referencing some of Emilia's comments from 2019 when she appeared on Dax Shephard's podcast, Armchair Expert. At that time, Emilia admitted that she accepted the role of Daenerys without realizing how many sex scenes she would be expected to film.

"I took the job, and then they sent me the scripts, and I was reading them, and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s the catch!" Emilia explained. "But I’d come fresh from drama school, and I approached it as a job: if it’s in the script, then it’s clearly needed."

And, although Emilia felt uncomfortable being naked on set, she felt she didn't have the right to request a robe because she was not an established actress. "I’d been on a film set twice before then, and I’m now on a film set completely naked with all of these people, and I don’t know what I’m meant to do, and I don’t know what’s expected of me, and I don’t know what you want, and I don’t know what I want," Emilia remembered.

"I’m not worthy of needing anything at all. Whatever I’m feeling is wrong," she recalled thinking. "I’m going to go cry in the bathroom, and then I’m going to come back and do the scene and it will be completely fine."

But Emilia later gave credit to her co-star, Jason Momoa, for teaching her that she was worthy of respect on set. She recalled that Jason was furious when the crew would leave her naked and cold to find her own way back to her dressing room after a difficult scene.

"Because Jason had experience – he was an experienced actor who had done a bunch of stuff before coming on to this – he was like, ‘Sweetie, this is how it’s meant to be, this is how it’s not meant to be, and I’m going to make sure that that’s the fucking case," she explained. "He was like: 'Can we get her a fucking robe? She's shivering!" Emilia said.

Jason became Emilia's friend and protector on set. "He was so kind and considerate and cared about me as a human being," she said.

Emilia admitted that filming those difficult scenes became easier because she got to do them with Jason. "It was definitely hard, which is why the scenes, when I got to do them with Jason, were wonderful, because he was like, ‘No, sweetie, this isn’t OK.’ And I was like, ‘Ohhhh.’”

Emilia recalled that Jason cried more than she did while filming the infamous rape scene. "It’s only now that I realize how fortunate I was with that because that could have gone many, many, many different ways," she said.

With time and experience, Emilia said she was able to become more confident and able to defend her boundaries on set. "I’ve had fights on set before where I’m like, ‘No, the sheet stays up’,” she said. 

"And they’re like, ‘You don’t wanna disappoint your Game of Thrones fans.’ And I’m like, ‘Fu*k you.’"

So, how does Jason feel about those GoT scenes today? "It was a really, really, really hard thing to do," he said in an interview.

"But my job was to play something like that, and it's not a nice thing, and it's what that character was," he recalled. "I've never really been questioned about, 'Do you regret playing a role?' We'll put it this way: I already did it. Not doing it again."

Later in the same interview, Jason reflected on those scenes again saying, "When you brought up Game of Thrones, you brought up stuff about what's happening with my character and would I do it again. I was bummed when you asked me that."

"It just feels icky - putting it upon me to remove something, as if an actor even had the choice to do that," Jason said. "We're not really allowed to do anything."

"There are producers, there are writers, there are directors, and you don't get to come in and be like, 'I'm not going do that because this isn't kosher right now and not right in the political climate.' That never happens," Jason pointed out.

"It's a question that feels icky. I just wanted you to know that."

The press tour for the new Marvel series, Secret Invasion, has been well underway this month.

And an interview with one of its stars, Emilia Clarke, has stirred up some controversy from her time on the long-running series, Game of Thrones.

In a recent interview, Emilia described the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the best franchise she has ever been a part of. This, of course, is poignant when you remember Emilia had her first big break on HBO's epic series, Game of Thrones.

"It’s just the best. It’s such a pedigree in its own right, it lives on its own level that is separate from everything else," Emilia said of the MCU.

"Game of Thrones was such a unique experience for me because we didn't know what the hell we were doing most of the time."

"Then it just became this big thing, and we just rode that journey all the way."

And it seems the actress's comments have compelled some of her fans to take a look back at her highly publicized time on GoT.

Of course, Emilia played Daenerys Targaryen in the show. She was the Queen of Dragons, but she was also a 16-year-old girl who was sold into marriage in the first episode.

At that time, Emilia had only ever stepped foot on two other film sets and was just 23 years old, fresh out of drama school. In the first few episodes of GoT, the shy actress was required to film multiple full-frontal nude scenes.

Of course, the most notorious of these was for the pilot episode where Daenerys is violently raped by her new husband, Drogo.

Emilia, being new to the industry, was uncomfortable at the time speaking up for herself when it came to how these difficult scenes were filmed.

Recently, some of Emilia's comments resurfaced when a fan tweeted about her time on GoT.

The tweet said that GoT's showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss "used to leave her naked and alone to find her own way back to her dressing room."

It seems the tweet is referencing some of Emilia's comments from 2019 when she appeared on Dax Shephard's podcast, Armchair Expert.

At that time, Emilia admitted that she accepted the role of Daenerys without realizing how many sex scenes she would be expected to film.

"I took the job and then they sent me the scripts and I was reading them, and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s the catch!" Emilia explained.

And, although Emilia felt uncomfortable being naked on set, she felt she didn't have the right to request a robe because she was not an established actress.

"I’m not worthy of needing anything at all. Whatever I’m feeling is wrong," she recalled thinking. "I’m going to go cry in the bathroom, and then I’m going to come back and do the scene and it will be completely fine."

But Emilia later gave credit to her co-star, Jason Momoa, for teaching her that she was worthy of respect on set.

She recalled that Jason was furious when the crew would leave her naked and cold to find her own way back to her dressing room after a difficult scene.

"He was like: 'Can we get her a fucking robe? She's shivering!" Emilia said.

Jason became Emilia's friend and protector on set. "He was so kind and considerate and cared about me as a human being," she said.

Emilia admitted that filming those difficult scenes became easier because she got to do them with Jason.

Emilia recalled that Jason cried more than she did while filming the infamous rape scene. "It’s only now that I realize how fortunate I was with that because that could have gone many, many, many different ways," she said.

With time and experience, Emilia said she was able to become more confident and able to defend her boundaries on set. "I’ve had fights on set before where I’m like, ‘No, the sheet stays up’,” she said.

So, how does Jason feel about those GoT scenes today? "It was a really, really, really hard thing to do," he said in an interview.

"But my job was to play something like that, and it's not a nice thing, and it's what that character was," he recalled.

"I've never really been questioned about, 'Do you regret playing a role?' We'll put it this way: I already did it. Not doing it again."

Later in the same interview, Jason reflected on those scenes again saying, "When you brought up Game of Thrones, you brought up stuff about what's happening with my character and would I do it again. I was bummed when you asked me that."

"It just feels icky - putting it upon me to remove something, as if an actor even had the choice to do that," Jason said. "We're not really allowed to do anything."

"It's a question that feels icky. I just wanted you to know that."

It's incredible to think that, in this day and age, women are still being treated this way in Hollywood. But how amazing that there are good men like Jason around to advocate for them!

We can't wait to check out Emilia in Secret Invasion. You can catch it streaming on Disney+ now.

Stephanie