Emilia Clarke recounted one of the films she starred after she catapulted to fame for portraying Daenerys Targaryen, aka the “Mother of Dragons,” in Game of Thrones. She reunited with one of the GoT directors for the project, but their tandem wasn’t enough to make the movie a hit.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Clarke recounted her experience filming Terminator Genisys. In the project, she reunited with filmmaker Alan Taylor, who directed multiple episodes of Game of Thrones, including the Season 1 finale “Fire and Blood.” However, according to Clarke, Taylor wasn’t at his best at the time because he was “eaten and chewed up” during the production. Clarke admitted that she also didn’t enjoy her time filming the movie. “He was not the director I remembered. He didn’t have a good time. No one had a good time,” Clarke told Vanity Fair.
It appeared that their unhappiness on the set was reflected in the project’s performance because Terminator Genisys received generally negative reviews from critics. It has a 26% approval rating from 263 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. “A ‘Terminator’ film brings with it certain high expectations (from some audiences), and ‘Genisys’ doesn’t meet them,” Keith Garlington of Keith & the Movies said about the project. While it lacks critical acclaim, it has moderate box office performance, making $440 million worldwide against a $155 million production budget. Overall, it was considered underwhelming, which unsurprisingly led to the cancelation of the planned sequels. Following its poor performance and reception, Clarke said she was “relieved” she didn’t need to do the sequel. Clarke was in close competition with Brie Larson and Tatiana Maslany for the role of Sarah Connor. Paramount reportedly considered Larson the best fit for the role, but the job offer eventually went to Clarke, whose star was on the rise at the time.
Although Terminator Genisys was a high-profile project for Clarke, it did not provide the career boost many expected. However, it also did not hinder her career; she went on to star in multiple other projects, including MCU’s Secret Invasion, where she portrayed G’iah, and many approved of her performance. Several said she was “terrific” as Taco’s daughter. Overall, her portrayal was well-received. Clarke is a good actress and a flopped movie doesn’t define her whole acting career. She will still be remembered by many as Daenerys from Game of Thrones and not Sarah Connor from Terminator Genisys.
