We're not crying, you're crying.
Steel yourself for some tears, Khaleesi has left the building. While the photos from Game of Thrones’ wild wrap party have surfaced (including a wild drunken Dirty Dancing lift courtesy of Jason Momoa), Emilia Clarke took to Instagram for a more sober goodbye to the show that launched her career.
She posted a photograph of herself lying amongst some flowers, writing, ‘Hopped on a boat to an island to say goodbye to the land that has been my home away from home for almost a decade. It’s been a trip @gameofthrones thank you for the life I never dreamed I’d be able to live and the family I’ll never stop missing #?#lastseasonitis’
Emilia played Danaerys Targaryen, one of the show’s leading contenders for the Iron Throne and an all round dragon-riding, fire-surviving, master-manipulating badass. (With some problematic colonial undertones, admittedly.) Prior to Thrones, Emilia had a few bit parts in a couple of TV series and shorts though it was her imposing performance as the fierce queen that captivated people’s hearts.
The story of her Game of Thrones audition came out when she was on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and it was surprisingly goofy, despite the dark subject material. She called it a ‘really really silly’ encounter where she performed for a panel of HBO executives and show runner David Benioff.
As she wrapped up her audition, she said, ‘I was asking them if I could do anything else, if there’s anything else I could do - make them some tea. And David Benioff suggested that I do a dance. Ha ha ha. And so I did, I did a dance...I don’t know how to do it, but I did the Funky Chicken, then I morphed into the robot.’
Beyond her heartfelt Instagram post, Emilia also said that she’s thinking of following in her co-stars’ footsteps and getting a Thrones-themed tattoo. While there’s speculation that Sophie Turner’s Game of Thrones tattoo is actually a spoiler for the end of the season, Emilia decided to play it a little safer and get a little dragon - an homage to her three (well, two) gigantic babies on the show.
She pointed at her wrist and said in a Live! With Kelly and Ryan interview, ‘I’m going to get a dragon right here, kind of flying away. So I think that’s cool. A little kind of peace out.’
The final season of Game of Thrones will be aired next year and will only be six episodes long. We still don’t know what we’re going to do with ourselves once it’s over, TBH.
