‘Games of Thrones’: Emilia Clarke Says She Was Pressured Into Nude Scenes

Emilia Clarke wasn’t sure what to expect when she first stepped onto the set of Game of Thrones. At the time, she was just 23-years-old and fresh out of drama school. To no surprise, it was quite the shock to the system when she learned off all the nude scenes she’d be involved in in the first season.

Appearing on Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert, Clarke recalled the beginning of her time as Daenerys Targaryen.

“I took the job and then they sent me the scripts and I was reading them, and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s the catch!’” Clarke said on the podcast. “But I’d come fresh from drama school and I approached it as a job, if it’s in the script then it’s clearly needed, this is what this is and I’m going to make sense of it. Everything’s going to be cool.”

She convinced herself the risqué scenes would be fine, but, ultimately, they became troublesome as the season progressed. She shared with Shepard that there were times she would fight back with producers about when she’d have to do a scene involving nudity.

The experience, she says, has made her a more “savvy” actress, though.

“I’ve had fights onset before where I’m like, ‘No, the sheet stays up,’ and they’re like, ‘You don’t want to disappoint your Game of Thrones fans.’ And I’m like, ‘F— you,” she explained.

Clarke also brought up her on-screen romance, Jason Momoa, who she said was a big help in her getting through that first season. She noted that the Aquaman star would stand up for her and was always there for her when she didn’t feel comfortable.

“He took care of me, too,” Clarke said. “In an environment where I didn’t know I needed to be taken care of.”

It’s been revealed before by Clarke that she never was a fan of the nude scene. She turned down the starring role in the Fifty Shades of Grey series. Dakota Johnson ended up playing the part of Anastasia Steele.

Her reason for turning it down, though, had to do with not being “pigeonholed” as a woman who is simply known for her scenes in which she’s not wearing clothes.

“But the last time that I was naked on camera on [Game of Thrones] was a long time ago, and yet it is the only question that I ever get asked because I am a woman. And it’s annoying as hell and I’m sick and tired of it because I did it for the character,” Clarke told Us Weekly.