Director Miguel Sapochnik goes on saying that the death of Dany's trusted adviser and friend Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) plays a role in her dark turn in the penultimate episode of the hit HBO series.
- Jun 20, 2019
AceShowbiz - It appears that people are still hanging up to "Game of Thrones" even though it's been weeks after the hit HBO series concluded its run. The show ended with deaths of major characters as well as controversial scene in its penultimate episode of season 8.
The episode, titled "The Bells", saw Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) turning into a Mad Queen as she and her dragon Drogon destroyed King's Landing, resulting in the deaths of innocent people. It caused controversy among fans because Dany had been known for being an advocate for saving innocents and ending slavery throughout the series.
Of the violent imagery, director Miguel Sapochnik explained to IndieWire, "The way she has treated humans, and the conviction she has, means that conviction is eventually going to fall afoul."
He went on saying that the death of her trusted adviser and friend Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) played a role in her dark turn. "She's not questioning herself anymore, which is the difference between somebody who, I think, has kind of lost their mind," Sapochnik said. "That's part of what makes us human, is we question whether we've made the right decisions or not."
Sapochnik added that in directing the first 25 minutes, he thought he needed to bring how Dany came to her final decision to destroy King's Landing. "At that point, you don't need to see her," the director said about the controversial scene. "We decided not to cut back to her. When she makes that decision, she and the dragon become one."
"The destruction of King's Landing, for me, has always been an audience participation event. You wanted this, you wanted this, you wanted this. Here. Is that really what you wanted?" he added. "I felt like there was this thing of this bloodthirstiness that exists in the fans, for revenge, for this payback that is personified by Dany. I just wanted to get to the core of what that actually means. Because even though the characters that don't exist in the end, what you're looking for, as an audience member, is death and destruction. I wanted people to know how bad death and destruction can be in the safe environment they're living in."
Clarke previously appeared to echo the sentiment, noting that it was about Dany feeling alone. "Every single thing that's led her to this point, and there she is, alone. We've all got this part of us, that part that goes, 'I'm gonna put that chocolate cake down.' [Laughs.] 'And I'm going to walk away,' " the actress said in a behind-the-scenes video.
"We can't be getting into these moral conundrums all the time. I'm not saying chocolate cake is a moral conundrum--eat as much f***ing cake as you want--but those things that you wrestle with in yourself," she added.
