Emilia Clarke has gotten some distance from Game of Thrones, but not so much that she’s ready to watch House of the Dragon. “I think watching the new one would just feel so odd.”

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen – Photo: Courtesy of HBO
Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen – Photo: Courtesy of HBO /

Emilia Clarke played Daenerys Targaryen for eight seasons of Game of Thrones, going from a new actress pounding the pavement for roles to a household name. She will forever be associated with the show, and she’s thankful for it. “When I started, you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t know what you’re surrounded by and you don’t know what you’re taking part in,” she told PEOPLE. “Now, as more and more time goes between it and me doing it, the more I’m like, that was incredibly special and that was incredibly rare.”

So Clarke now has some distance from the series, which ended back in 2019. But she doesn’t have so much distance that she’s ready to watch HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon, which is currently airing its second season. “I still can’t,” she said. “I feel so content and happy with what my experience was, that I think watching the new one would just feel so odd.”

“I really do fully support the entire thing and everyone who’s made it, and it’s beautiful how successful it’s been. It’s absolutely amazing.”

Clarke played the only prominent Targaryen character on Game of Thrones, but the new show is chock-full of dragon-riding megalomaniacs with silver-blonde hair. I can see how it might be odd.

In the meantime, her appreciation for the original Game of Thrones show has only gone up after she opened her own production company, Magical Thinking Pictures. “Oh my God, I really understand how the sausage is made now,” she laughed. “It makes me see even more just how lightning in a bottle that was and how fortunate I was to have that as part of my experience as an actor. I was just incredibly, incredibly lucky to have had that experience, 100 percent.”

Clarke’s last TV role was in Secret Invasion on Disney+, which was not one of the better-received Marvel shows. In addition to producing and running her charity SameYou, she has roles in upcoming movies like An Ideal Wife and The Queen of Fashion.