Shocking! Emilia Clarke Was Not The Original Choice To Play Daenerys Targaryen in HBO's Game of Thrones!

Emilia Clarke, the ideal face of Daenerys Targaryen, was apparently not HBO's first choice to play Khaleesi! Are you surprised and shocked to the core? Well, so are wee! Turns out, another British actress had been roped in to play the pivotal role. But Clarke got super lucky!

HBO had initially cast The Tudors star, Tamzin Merchant, to play the part in Game of Thrones. However, as Emilia's features matched the description of Dany in the books so perfectly, the casting director rooped in Emilia instead. In an interview with Vanity Fair, casting director Nina Gold stated, "It's terrible to disappoint…difficult to let down…that's hard. It's tough, but you've got to get it right, ultimately."

The actress' first day wasn't a smooth sailing one as she fell off a horse! In one of the HBO videos, Clarke stated, "I fell off a f—king horse! This was my first job...this was the first thing I ever did and they stuck me on a horse! I just remember hanging on for dear life and I just remember, please stop filming!' And I just cried."

Speaking about her character to The New Yorker, Emilia Clarke had quoted, "This was also my first job. Coming at such a character represented a kind of a growth. In so many of those early moments, you probably saw a lot of Emilia's pain rather than Daenerys's pain, because it's not comfortable, it's not easy."

Well, who would've thought that this Khaleesi would last the whole eighth season and win so many hearts! Including Beyoncé's, who came up to her and said, "Oh, my goodness, it's so wonderful to meet you. I think you're brilliant." Somebody clearly got very lucky.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 27, 2019 10:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).