Games of Thrones has been breaking viewing records and making headlines ever since its final season debuted back in April. After all, fans around the globe are heavily invested in the story at this point and want to see it end in grand fashion.
But even though the show’s more popular than ever right now, some controversial decisions made by the writing team have split both critics and fans over the past few weeks. In fact, each episode seems to bring a new problem to the forefront that creates further division amongst the fanbase. The most divisive moment, though, occurred in last Sunday’s “The Bells,” which saw Daenerys embrace her inner Targaryen and turn to the dark side.
Many believe that her actions undid seasons worth of character development for Dany, as she’s always been portrayed as fair and just. Understandably, then, most fans now feel a strong hatred towards her and according to Emilia Clarke, she knew that’d be the case all along. Or at least, ever since she got the scripts for the final season a few years ago.
“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,” Clarke confessed. “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!’”
Continuing on, the actress talked about how she had to keep it a secret and how tough that was, explaining:
“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,” she said.
With only one episode left to go now, it’ll be interesting to see where Daenerys ends up and if she makes it out alive. Whatever happens, though, hopefully the Game of Thrones series finale will be able to turn things around and properly wrap up what’s been a truly incredible run for one of TV’s most impressive and critically acclaimed shows. Fingers crossed, eh?