Emilia Clarke is correcting one of the most repeated money rumors about her years on Game of Thrones.
The actress, who played Daenerys Targaryen across all eight seasons of the HBO fantasy drama, said in a new Variety interview that reports about the show’s main cast making $300,000 per episode did not match her experience.
Clarke did not reveal her actual salary. She did say the show changed her life financially, including giving her enough money to pay off her parents’ mortgage.
Clarke Said the Reported Number Was Too High
Asked about the long-circulated $300,000-per-episode figure, Clarke answered directly.
“We didn’t earn that much,” she told Variety. “Can you imagine? I’d have been driving a couple of Porsches!”
PEOPLE reported that Clarke still described the job as financially life-changing. The correction was not a complaint about the show; it was a pushback against a number that has followed the cast for years.
She Said She Did Not Shape the Story Behind the Scenes
Clarke also addressed the idea that starring in a global phenomenon gave her control over Daenerys’ arc. She said she did not have creative input on Game of Thrones and did not want that role while performing the character.
PEOPLE reported that Clarke praised showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and said they were the ones guiding the story. Her own job, as she described it, was to make Daenerys’ choices work truthfully on screen.
The distinction is useful because Clarke’s performance became one of the show’s defining parts, but she was not presenting herself as someone who controlled where the character ultimately went.
The Interview Also Revisited Her Health Scare
Variety’s interview also returned to the two brain hemorrhages Clarke survived during her time on Game of Thrones. Clarke has previously spoken about the first hemorrhage happening after filming the first season and a later medical crisis that followed while the show was still part of her life.
In the new interview, Clarke described survivor’s guilt after the hemorrhages and said she once felt as if she had “cheated death.”
That history adds context to how much pressure sat behind one of television’s biggest roles. Clarke was not only managing a sudden global career; she was also recovering from life-threatening medical emergencies that were not public at the time.
Clarke’s View of Game of Thrones Has Changed
Clarke also spoke about how her relationship with Game of Thrones has changed since the series ended in 2019.
Entertainment Weekly reported that Clarke once felt deeply affected by not winning an Emmy for the series and remembered feeling like “old news” after the show ended.
Years later, Clarke sounds less tied to awards or old salary myths. The show gave her financial security, global visibility, and one of television’s most recognizable roles, but her latest comments make clear that the public version of the story was not always the version she lived.