Emilia Clarke used to feel "trapped" by her Game of Thrones success.

The 39-year-old actress played Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, the hit HBO fantasy series, between 2011 and 2019, but Emilia wasn't able to enjoy her success at the time.

The brunette beauty - who starred alongside the likes of Sean Bean, Richard Madden, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Kit Harington and Rose Leslie on the TV show - told Variety: "I have gone through every circuitous route to get to the place that I am now, which is finally being able to be very grateful for everything that 'Game of Thrones' did and has given me. I no longer feel trapped in it, or trapped in the result of being in it.

"I feel just really lucky that it happened to me -- even luckier that I've had time to understand what that was, and now I feel firmly on the other side."

Emilia explained that at the height of the show's success, she felt quite disconnected from her on-screen character.

The actress also "didn't have any creative input" into her character, either.

She said: "Aside from what I brought as an actor, I didn't have any creative input, nor did I want any."

In 2023, Emilia admitted that she couldn't bring herself to watch House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones spin-off show that stars the likes of Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, Rhys Ifans and Milly Alcock.

The actress voiced her support for the spin-off show - but confessed that watching the programme would be "weird" and "strange".

Emilia - whose other acting credits include Solo: A Star Wars Story, Terminator: Genisys and Me Before You - told Variety: "It's too weird. I'm so happy it's happening. I'm over the moon about all the awards ... I just can't do it. It's so weird. It's so strange."

Emilia even likened watching the spin-off show to attending a school reunion.

The London-born actress explained: "It's kind of like someone saying, 'You want to go to this school reunion that's not your year? Want to go to that school reunion?' That's how it feels. I'm avoiding it."