Emilia Clarke defends Dany's reaction to Game of Thrones bombshell

Jon Snow dropped a major bombshell on Dany and it did not go well. Photo / Supplied

In the latest episode of Game of Thrones, Kit Harington's character, Jon Snow, revealed his parentage to onscreen lover Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) while standing in front of the statue of his mother, Lyanna Stark.

Upon discovering that he's not actually a bastard in the season 8 premiere — instead the true Iron Throne heir, Jon has been most upset by the fact he's the nephew of the woman he loves and not actually Ned Stark's son.

But Dany focused on something else entirely: that Jon has a better claim to rule Westeros.

But fans were left puzzled by Dany's odd reaction — instantly focusing on to threat to her claim to rule the Seven Kingdoms instead of how it impacts her relationship with Jon. So much so that Clarke has come out in defence of her character.

"The related thing, to her, is so normal," Clarke explains to Entertainment Weekly. "She could have easily married her brother. It's not a thing. It's a thing for Jon, but let's just forget about that. The main thing is we're up for the same promotion and I've been working for it for my entire existence."

And the stakes are higher than ever, now that she's as close as she's ever been to reclaiming her inheritance.

"This is my whole existence," Clarke said. "Since birth! Dany literally was brought into this world going: RUN! These f***ers [in Westeros] have f***ed everything up. Now it's, 'You're our only hope.' There's so much she's taken on in her duty in life to rectify. There's so much she's seen and witnessed and been through and lost and suffered and hurt to get here … and Jon doesn't even want it!"

Bryan Cogman, the episode's writer, said that Clarke and Harington both nailed the "very difficult" scene.

"What really upsets Jon is that he's a blood relative to the woman he's in love with," Cogman says. "Jon is taken aback when essentially the first thing she says is acknowledging that he has a claim to the Iron Throne. Kit and Emilia play it beautifully. It's a very difficult scene to pull off; so much has to go on behind the eyes."