Emilia Clarke recently spoke about her feelings on Game of Thrones when viewed in hindsight. In a recent interview, Clarke, who played Daenerys Targaryen in the eight-season series, reflected on the hit series’s impact on her career and admitted that she is fine with always being “that dragon girl.”

Emilia Clarke is ‘deeply grateful’ Game of Thrones happened

During a recent appearance on Virgin Radio UK’s TFI Friday Official, the English actress reflected on her career after Game of Thrones ended and how she feels about the series now.

“I think I went through a phase of being like, oh, trying to want to be known for more than just Game of Thrones, but now I’m just like, it was phenomenal,” Clarke noted.

She added, “I never didn’t think it was great. But I was always like, ‘But I can do all these other things, and I swear to God, I’m an actor.’ Now I’m just deeply grateful it happened. And I’ll probably always be that dragon girl. And maybe that’s okay.”

Kit Harington recently defended the Game of Thrones Season 8 finale, stating that he still feels “protective” of it. “I feel that the best people to be able to do that were the people who gave us the first seven seasons, that brought it to TV, that brought George’s thing and brought it to TV,” he remarked before adding that he continues to feel “very defensive of it as a show and as a season. And I think I always will.”

During her Virgin Radio UK interview, Clarke also spoke about George R.R. Martin’s criticism of how she spoke the Dothraki language in the series. “I’m like, ‘Bro, it’s not been said out loud.’ And I do it on camera, and he’s like in an interview, ‘She didn’t do it very well.’ I started it!” she exclaimed.