Daenerys Targeryen’s descent into madness in Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 5, “The Bells” seems to have caused actress Emilia Clarke ‘s wig to fly off due to shock.
Warning! Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 5 lie ahead!
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Just hours after Daenerys Targeryen laid waste to King’s Landing and fulfilled the fear of many that she would transform into the Mad Queen, Clarke is speaking out and sharing her reaction to the game-changing episode that sparked outrage.
“This is what it took not only to shoot ep5…but to watch it too!” Clarke captioned the photo showing herself in a bald cap and holding a giant bottle of wine. She added the hashtag “so shocking it blew my wig off.”
Clarke’s post, and her statement of shock at the episode, came after he onscreen counterpart opted to ignore the bells of surrender that rang out throughout King’s Landing and instead chose to lay waste to King’s Landing and every soul within its walls, including thousands of innocents.
The shocking twist, which was criticized by many fans, had been in the making since Season 1, according to showrunner David Benoiff.
“Even when you look back to season one, when Kahl Drogo gives the golden crown to Viserys and her reaction to watching her brother’s head melted off, he was a terrible brother — so I don’t think anyone out there was crying when Viserys died — but there is something chilling about the way Dany has responded to the death of her enemies,” he told Entertainment Tonight.
“And if circumstances had been different, I don’t think this side of Dany ever would have come out,” he continued. “If Cersei hadn’t betrayed her, if Cersei hadn’t executed Missandei, if Jon hadn’t told her the truth – if all these things had happened in any different way, then I don’t think we’d be seeing this side of Daenerys Targaryen.”
Benoiff added that a number of events led to the deadly rampage including the deaths of Rhaegal and Missandei and Jon Snow’s reluctance to return her affections and his confession to a number of people of his true identity. According to David Weiss, however, Daenerys did not choose violence until the bells rung.
“It’s in that moment on the walls of King’s Landing, when she’s looking at that symbol of everything that was taken from her, when she makes the decision to make this personal,” he explained.
Game of Thrones is set to conclude with its series finale on Sunday, May 19 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
