She learned a valuable (and hilarious) lesson from playing the Mother of Dragons.
Emilia Clarke has joined major franchises like Star Wars, Terminator, and most recently the MCU for Disney+ subscribers, but she may forever be best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones. In fact, while promoting Marvel’s Secret Invasion alongside co-star Ben Mendelsohn, she shared what she learned from playing Khaleesi for ten years that she was able to apply to the new show. It’s a hilarious reveal from the actress, but nobody may find it as funny as Mendelsohn did!
Clarke and Mendelsohn are part of the same family in the cast of Secret Invasion, with the actor reprising his Captain Marvel role as Talos and Clarke debuting as Talos’ daughter G’iah. They were paired up for an interview with Phase Zero in which the actress revealed the origin behind Dany’s very straight posture on Game of Thrones, why the character kept her back straight from beginning to end, and how it affected her approach to the new Marvel show. And honestly, my favorite part of the video might be her co-star cracking up! Take a look, starting at the 4-minute mark:
Apparently, Khaleesi’s regal posture on Game of Thrones is all down to Emilia Clarke landing the role of Daenerys Targaryen as a young actress who remembered her mom’s advice to always sit up straight! Unfortunately for her, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss weren’t open to the character starting to slouch as the seasons went by. If you missed some of her story due to all the giggles, here’s what she shared:
People often spoke about Khaleesi’s very straight back and very good posture… I was a terrified 22-year-old, my mum had told me to sit up straight, so I did. And then you’re stuck with it. I didn’t know it was going to go on for 10 years! Every time with David and Dan I’d be like ‘Yo, what if she’s sitting in the throne like this [slouches]?’ And they’re like ‘No, you can’t.’
Mendelsohn’s laughter was clearly contagious, because Emilia Clarke was struggling through her story due to a case of the giggles herself by the end! I’m not sure what I would have guessed as a lesson that she learned from a decade of Game of Thrones, but it wouldn’t have been about a straight vs. a comfortable posture! She went on to explain how she applied her hilarious lesson to Secret Invasion:
So with G’iah, I was like, she’s nimble, she’s flexible, there’s never going to be any [standing straight], she’s a mover.
In a fun twist, Emilia Clarke is only the latest on a long list of former Game of Thrones stars who have joined the MCU, and she even commented on the sheer number when she found out! She does seem to have moved on from the world of Westeros, previously saying that it’s “too weird” for her to even watch House of the Dragon, although she was “so happy it’s happening.” She also had some advice for the new stars playing Targaryens in the spinoff.
For now, it’s possible that her future lies in the MCU! Of course, Secret Invasion only just started with its premiere in the 2023 TV schedule, so it remains to be seen if G’iah will be around in the MCU in the long run. New episodes will release on Wednesdays on Disney+, and the streamer is also the place to find Marvel movies in order during the days between episodes.
