Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke has pinpointed the moment that saw her character Daenerys Targaryen descend into madness.
The revelation comes from new behind the scenes documentary When Winter Falls.
The season 8 finale of the show saw Daenerys burn King’s Landing to the ground, but it was three episodes earlier at the Battle of Winterfell that her descent into the chaos that defined the show’s much-maligned finale began, Clarke believes.
“In the actual battle itself, Dany’s impatient to get in there,” Clarke says of the episode. “She’s like, gunning for a fight. She’s ready to take this guy down.
“She’s a fierce warrior, although you don’t see a lot of hand-to-hand combat with her, she’s ready to fight to the death. Especially at this point, there’s a lot of anger – she’s got all of that in her to put into this fight.
Seeing the battle as a culmination of building intensity for her character, Daenerys says: “It’s not just the matter at hand, but I think because of everything at an emotional level that’s gone on, she’s able to go into her cold-blooded side.”
Emilia Clarke recently revealed that she was told to perform nude scenes or “disappoint” fans in the show’s first season, saying: “I’ve had fights on set before where I’m like, ‘No, the sheet stays up’, and they’re like, ‘You don’t wanna disappoint your Game of Thrones fans’. And I’m like, ‘Fuck you.’”
Clarke also recently called the backlash to the Game of Thrones finale “flattering”, referencing a fan-made petition to remake season 8 that’s now gained nearly 2 million signatures.
Meanwhile, Game of Thrones star Dean-Charles Chapman has suggested the release of a filmed alternate ending to the show could “mend the fans’ hearts” after Kristofer Hivju’s revelation recently that they had shot a second ending to the series.
