Emilia Clarke says she is done with fantasy roles as she moves on from Game of Thrones

Emilia Clarke says she’s finished with fantasy roles

After nearly a decade defined by dragons, destiny and global fame, Emilia Clarke says she has closed the door on fantasy for good.

The British actor, who became a household name as Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s Game of Thrones, has said she does not plan to return to the genre that launched her career.

In recent interviews promoting her new Peacock series Ponies, Clarke made it clear that her future lies far from Westeros.

“You’re highly unlikely to see me get on a dragon again,” Clarke said in an interview published Jan. 13, adding that her time in fantasy storytelling feels complete.

Clarke’s decision comes as HBO continues to expand the Game of Thrones universe with new spinoffs. While the franchise remains active, Clarke says her own chapter ended with the original series.

Her portrayal of Daenerys earned her four Emmy nominations and worldwide recognition, but it also came with intense emotional and physical costs.

In multiple interviews over the past few years, Clarke has spoken openly about the toll the show took on her mental health. After the series ended in 2019, she said she experienced what she described as a full mental breakdown, using the pandemic slowdown as an opportunity to reassess her career and sense of identity.

Her struggles were not limited to life after the show. During the early seasons of Game of Thrones, Clarke survived two life-threatening brain aneurysms, undergoing emergency surgeries in 2011 and 2013. She later revealed that filming while recovering was deeply frightening and physically exhausting, even as the show’s popularity soared.

The show’s controversial final season added another layer of complexity. Fans reacted strongly to Daenerys’ sudden descent into tyranny and her death in the finale, with criticism aimed at the pacing and character development. Clarke has said she was shocked when she first read the scripts and struggled emotionally with the character’s ending, even reaching out to her family for support.

While she has acknowledged fan frustration and said she understands the backlash, Clarke has also emphasized her responsibility as an actor to fully commit to the material she was given. Over time, she says, she has made peace with the ending and with what the role represents in her life.

Now 39, Clarke says she is focused on carving out a new creative identity — one defined by choice rather than expectation. Her latest project, Ponies, marks a return to television in a Cold War–era thriller, signaling a deliberate move toward grounded, character-driven work.

For Clarke, stepping away from fantasy is less about rejection and more about closure. The dragons may have defined her early career, but she is determined that they will not define what comes next.