Emilia Clarke Breaks Silence on Marvel, Star Wars and Terminator Misfires with a Candid Apology

Emilia Clarke, who most people know as the Mother of Dragons from Game of Thrones, has been looking back at her blockbuster-packed career—and she’s not shying away from talking about the duds. In a chat with Variety, Clarke gave some unusually frank takes on her turns in several major franchises, and let’s just say she’s got a pretty clear-eyed view of what worked…and what most definitely didn’t.

Clarke’s Franchise Track Record: A Mixed Bag

If you’ve been anywhere near a cinema in the last decade, you’ve probably clocked Clarke’s face in at least one megabudget series. Of course, there’s Game of Thrones, but she’s also been in Star Wars (as Qi’ra in Solo), had a go in the Marvel sandbox (recently in Secret Invasion), and once tried to reboot a very familiar cyborg—yep, she played Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys. Some of these, let’s be honest, landed better than others.

• Game of Thrones: The show that made her a household name—still polarising thanks to that divisive finale, but hard to argue with its cultural impact.
• Solo: A Star Wars Story: Decent cast, but general consensus hovered around ‘underwhelming’. Not quite the Force awakening Disney had banked on.
• Terminator Genisys: This one even Clarke herself struggles to defend. It was an attempt to resuscitate a franchise that by 2015, let’s be fair, really did need more than CPR.
• Secret Invasion: Marvel’s Disney+ series with Samuel L Jackson and an alien conspiracy that even most fans found a bit, well, forgettable.

Quotes That Don’t Hold Back

Clarke doesn’t bother with PR-approved spin about her less-loved projects. Regarding Marvel’s Secret Invasion, she put it bluntly:

"I don’t think anyone liked that show, guys. I’m sorry!"

Not exactly ducking responsibility, but she’s realistic about where things landed. When it came to the two sci-fi giants she signed up for, her opinion is even more scathing:

"Star Wars? They didn’t like it. Terminator? That should never have happened. But these were jobs I said yes to, you know what I mean?"

She’s under no illusions about how fans received these films—not much sugar-coating going on there.

It’s Business, Not Personal

The way Clarke tells it, parachuting into big franchises comes with its own baggage—and she seems pretty philosophical about it. She says she joined ‘already existing franchises’, so if the whole ship goes down, it’s not about her personally.

For future gigs, Clarke’s thinking about being a bit more choosy, but she’s not convinced ‘the perfect job’ actually exists. She admitted she might just take something if it sounds fun, and she draws a hard line under her involvement once filming ends:

"My connection to a project ends when they say, ‘Picture wrap.’ Because it’s not for me to decide what people will think of it."

Game of Thrones: Still a Double-Edged Sword

No one’s forgotten Game of Thrones—it’s still up there as one of TV’s biggest events. But even that juggernaut finished on a divisive note, triggering plenty of viewer debate.