For years, the internet has been flooded with claims that Emilia Clarke and her fellow Game of Thrones stars earned a staggering $300,000 per episode at the peak of the HBO fantasy drama’s success. Now, the actor has finally addressed the long-standing speculation, revealing the truth behind the cast’s much-discussed paychecks.
Emilia Clarke sets the record straight
In an interview with Variety, the actor spoke about the rumours more than a decade after reports surfaced claiming the co-stars each earned $300,000 per episode.
She mentioned that the main cast’s reported salary of $300,000 per episode was wildly exaggerated. “We didn’t earn that much. Can you imagine? I’d have been driving a couple of Porsches,” Emilia said.
The 39-year-old, who played Daenerys Targaryen in the popular show, did not elaborate further on how “wildly exaggerated” the number was. However, she did note that the money she made throughout the George R. R. Martin adaptation's run did provide her with enough financial security to pay off her parents’ mortgage.
"I was given the seasons, and I, to the best of my ability, empathised and understood and tracked every choice she made so it felt like mine. I felt like that was what my job was," Emilia said of her portrayal of the Mother of Dragons.
The series premiered in 2011 and ran for eight seasons before wrapping in 2019. In addition to Emilia, the show starred Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and more.
{{/usCountry}}The series premiered in 2011 and ran for eight seasons before wrapping in 2019. In addition to Emilia, the show starred Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and more.
{{/usCountry}}Before the finale, Emilia made it clear she was “always paid the same amount as” her male co-stars.
“It was my first job, and I was not discriminated against because I was a woman, in my paycheck,” the Emmy nominee had said during a 2018 interview at a Cannes Film Festival screening. That same year, court documents in Nikolaj’s legal battle with his former manager revealed he made $1.07 million per episode “for at least six episodes” of the final season.
More about Emilia Clarke
After her breakout role as Daenerys Targaryen, the iconic "Mother of Dragons" in the globally popular HBO series Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Emilia Clarke went on to explore a variety of roles across different genres. She starred as Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys, joining the legendary Terminator action series, and later entered the Star Wars universe as Qi’ra in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Emilia also made her debut in the world of romantic comedies, such as Last Christmas, where she played Kate, an aspiring singer working as an elf in a retail store. Her other projects include Above Suspicion, Secret Invasion, Criminal and The Pod Generation.