Emilia Clarke is Daenerys
As has been put forth (and finally confirmed by George R. R. Martin’s Not A Blog), English actress Emilia Clarke has assumed the role of Daenerys Targaryen recently vacated by Tamzin Merchant. And yes, that would be Clarke with an “e.”
Emilia’s experience is limited; she’s barely out of drama school, having attended the prestigious Drama Centre London. But Emilia has done some work, appearing in the role of Saskia Mayer in the drama DOCTORS: EMPTY NEST, as well as the two Lisa’s Story commercials for Samaritans.
George says:
Our new Daenerys is a beautiful and talented young actress named Emilia Clarke, a recent graduate of Drama Centre London.
He goes on to add:
I haven’t had the chance to meet Emilia yet, but I’ve seen her auditions. She gave some kickass readings, winning out over some amazing competition from all around the world. She should make a great Dany.
(None of which should be taken in any way as a slight against Tamzin Merchant, another wonderful young actress. Her perfomance as Dany in the pilot was wonderful, I thought).
Fire And Blood: Far be it for me to be on an immediate bandwagon, but this is one striking young woman. She reminds me of Ellen Page, but with bigger, more luminous eyes. By her commercials alone I can tell Emilia can do the younger, naive, emotional Dany. Time will tell if she can also play the self-righteous and driven Mother Of Dragons.
George’s comment regarding his thoughts on Tamzin’s performance leads me to speculate the choice to let Tamzin go was HBO’s, not his (nor hers), but that may just be me reading into things. I doubt we will ever know. Thus far we have trusted in Nina Gold, and in Dan and D.B., and thus far — even in the recasts — I’ve not felt let down in the least.
As in anything, time will tell if the decisions were for the best. But it looks like they’ve found a diamond in the rough with Emilia Clarke. Hope she’s ready for all this.
UPDATE: Watch a collection of Emilia Clarke clips from Doctors here [courtesy of the commenter allMywonders/SarikaSarks].
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