Why Emilia Clarke Feared Beyoncé Would Hate Daenerys After ‘Game of Thrones’ Series Finale

Game of Thrones spoilers ahead.

It’s truly the end of an era. Over the course of a decade, Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, instilled hope into a world ruled by tyrants. However, by the end of the series, the fearless ruler had turned into the same vicious, power-hungry leader she had vowed to dethrone seasons earlier. 

Emilia Clarke, who played Dany throughout the course of the series, knew the fate of her character long before the masses, naturally, and during an encounter with fellow queen Beyoncé, the actress feared that her majesty would no longer respect the Breaker of Chains after watching the final season.

In February, before the final season aired, Clarke attended a star-studded Oscars afterparty hosted by Beyoncé and JAY-Z. While she was sitting at the bar, “six glasses of champagne in,” Clarke saw the hostesses making her way towards her. 

“I see this vision, this angel, this incredible woman float towards me,” Clarke recalled during an interview with the New Yorker. “I can’t quite control myself. And Beyoncé says to me, ‘Oh, my goodness, it’s so wonderful to meet you. I think you’re brilliant.’ I just couldn’t handle it! I was on the verge of tears. I could see myself reflected in her eyes. I could see her go, ‘Oh, no. I misjudged this. This girl is crazy and I’m not going to have a real conversation with another celebrity. I’m having a conversation with a crazed fan who’s looking at me like a rabbit in the headlights.’ Which is exactly what I was. I said, ‘I’ve seen you live in concert and I think you’re amazing and wonderful! Wonderful!’

However, for Clarke, the image of Beyoncé ultimately discovering that Dany had become a tyrant was just as nerve-racking as looking like a super-fan. “And all I wanted to scream was ‘Please, please still like me even though my character turns into a mass-killing dictator! Please still think that I’m representing women in a really fabulous way.'”

The actress couldn’t disclose Game of Thrones details to any of her closest confidants, which is why she couldn’t reveal her Beyoncé-related anxiety to any of her friends at the party. “I was just, like, oh, my God, my absolute idol in life is saying that she likes me, and I know for a fact that by the end of this season she’s going to hate me.”

Now that the final season has come to an end, over-analyzing banal details from the series is all that fans have left. On that note, Clarke also informed the critics that a cast member was not responsible for that viral Starbucks cup gaffe, despite jokingly blaming it on Khal Drogo. “We don’t drink Starbucks. So anyone who’s clucking around with a Starbucks cup is someone who is not a cast member. There’s no mocha-wocha-frappuccino anywhere.”