Emilia Clarke found it ‘so hard’ to keep Daenerys Targaryen plot twist a secret for two years

WARNING: Spoilers for episode five below! 
Alistair Foster17 May 2019
The Weekender

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Emilia Clarke has spoken of the difficulty she had keeping the dramatic fate of her Game Of Thrones character a secret for two years.

Fans were shocked this week when her character Daenerys Targaryen was transformed from the show’s heroine into a “Mad Queen” who burned thousands of innocent citizens alive.

The 32-year-old admitted she was told about the storyline two years ago.

She also revealed that she has hired a room to watch the show’s finale with friends when it is screened in the early hours on Monday.

Emilia Clarke - In pictures

EE British Academy Film Awards 2020 - Arrivals - London
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At The National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Stop MS fundraising appeal in London last night, Clarke said: “People have always come up to me and told me how much they love Daenerys. And two years ago I got the script for this series and knew what was going to happen to her.

“Every time someone would come up to me and say, ‘I love her!’ inside, I was thinking, ‘Well you’re not going to love her for long!’

“It was so hard to keep it a secret. I would just nod and smile, and that’s why I had this sort of furrowed-eyebrow expression a lot of the time. My eyebrows would sort of curl up.”

Plot twist: Daenerys Targaryen made a drastic decision
HBO

Despite record viewing figures, the reception to the final series of HBO’s hit show has been mixed.

Critics said the season, which has only six episodes, has been rushed and a petition calling for it to be remade “with competent writers” has been signed by more than 700,000 disgruntled fans.

Clarke refused to be drawn on the controversy, saying: “The response in general to this series has been pretty overwhelming. It’s been an incredible privilege to be part of.”

Game Of Thrones was first broadcast in 2011. The final episode is on Sky Atlantic at 2am on Monday and will bring the sprawling fantasy epic to a close.

Clarke will be watching the finale with a big group of friends.

“I’ve hired out a room to host a screening and there’s more than 40 people coming,” she revealed. “We’ve had to get a load of bean bags in for the front row as so many people want to come.”

Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, was due to co-host last night’s event but had to pull out, with insiders saying he had been summoned to a meeting with bosses at HBO. His wife Rose Leslie, who played Ygritte, did attend, however.

The event, held at Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster, raised £355,000 through ticket sales and a silent auction.

Game of Thrones: TV Series - In pictures

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