Game of Thrones fans may still debate the series finale into the 2025 TV schedule, but many can likely agree that the character with the most iconic look on the show was Daenerys Targaryen. White hair with braids? Snazzy outfits that expanded to include snazzy coats when she made it to wintery Westeros? Dragons swooping around her? Iconic. (You can stream the series now with an HBO Max subscription.) Actress Emilia Clarke wanted to take some of the awesome props home with her when filming wrapped, and she thought she was in luck until discovering that she’d been bamboozled.
The actress, who has also appeared in Star Wars and Marvel projects over the years to establish herself as a favorite within genre projects, appeared on BBC Radio 1 not too long after the series finale in 2019 to weigh in on what she took from the set when she finished her time as Dany… or, more specifically, what she didn’t take from the set because she believed the studio had her covered. She said:
I was like, ‘Please sir, can I take a wig? Seeing as there’s eight and I played the character for ten years. Could I take one?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, maybe.’ I’m like, ‘Could I take one of the coats, because we’ve got eight? There’s this coat in double. Please, can I have something?’ And they were like, ‘We will, we will. We’ll send it to you.’ So I was like, ‘Okay, I won’t take anything because they’re going to send it to me.’ Nothing.
The Mother of Dragons would not stand for this treatment! Considering that Emilia Clarke went through terrifying brain aneurysms in the early seasons of the show and then went on to embrace the series so much that she bleached her hair for the final season and got a tattoo in honor of her character, she certainly deserved some souvenirs from set. (She did advise House of the Dragon actors against bleaching their hair Targaryen white.)
It’s not clear what the studio would need all eight of her wigs and every double of her coat for after the series wrapped, but surely she could have taken one of each! The actress had to defend herself from accusations that she was responsible for the final season’s infamous coffee cup gaffe. That alone should have earned her at least one of Dany’s accessories.
Of course, Emilia Clarke revealed that the studio had bamboozled her several years ago, so it’s possible that she has since been sent a wig and/or a coat of Dany’s, if only because fans were vocally upset on her behalf. Even though the world of Westeros is continuing to expand on HBO with House of the Dragon and the upcoming Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the two spinoffs aren’t exactly reusing all of the Daenerys props from Game of Thrones. Matt Smith may not love Daemon’s wig for House of the Dragon, but that’s not because it’s a recycled hairpiece from Emilia Clarke’s days.
I hope that Clarke has since been given some props, or that the studio gets a move on and sends her something. The six-year anniversary of the series finale was back in May; it’s past time that the actress gets some mementoes from her time there. If she has fond memories despite enduring aneurysms and being pressured into early nude scenes, she should get at least something from her years on Game of Thrones.
