Emilia Clarke Reveals Her Reaction to Daenerys’ Fate in Game of Thrones Finale (SPOILERS)

Warning: Major spoilers follow for the Game of Thrones finale.

Daenerys Targaryen’s journey came to an end before Game of Thrones’ final episode did, her life ending at Jon Snow’s hands. On last night’s series finale, Daenerys was killed by Jon Snow after it became clear to him that she was not going to stop and would become a terror to Westeros, a heel turn that kicked into high gear when she laid waste to the citizens of King’s Landing in last week’s episode. Speaking with EW, Emilia Clarke shared her reaction to learning she would be killed and what she things of Daenerys’ turn. Highlights are below:

On what she thought when she read the script: “’What, what, what, WHAT!?’ Because it comes out of f**king nowhere. I’m flabbergasted. Absolutely never saw that coming.”

On what she did after learning of Daenerys’ death: “I cried. And I went for a walk. I walked out of the house and took my keys and phone and walked back with blisters on my feet. I didn’t come back for five hours. I’m like, ‘How am I going to do this?’”

On Daenerys’ turn in the final two episodes: “It was a f**king struggle reading the scripts. What I was taught at drama school — and if you print this there will be drama school teachers going ‘that’s bulls**t,’ but here we go: I was told that your character is right. Your character makes a choice and you need to be right with that. An actor should never be afraid to look ugly. We have uglier sides to ourselves. And after 10 years of working on this show, it’s logical. Where else can she go? I tried to think what the ending will be. It’s not like she’s suddenly going to go, ‘Okay, I’m gonna put a kettle on and put cookies in the oven and we’ll just sit down and have a lovely time and pop a few kids out.’ That was never going to happen. She’s a Targaryen.”

On how she feels about Daenerys’ death: “I thought she was going to die. I feel very taken care of as a character in that sense. It’s a very beautiful and touching ending. Hopefully, what you’ll see in that last moment as she’s dying is: There’s the vulnerability — there’s the little girl you met in season one. See? She’s right there. And now, she’s not there anymore … But having said all of the things I’ve just said… … I stand by Daenerys. I stand by her! I can’t not.”