Emilia Clarke Recalls Crying on Her First Day of 'Game of Thrones' Filming

As fans gear up for the final season of Game of Thrones, the actors who have brought us our favorite characters over the years are saying goodbye to the show that changed their lives. To help everyone say farewell, HBO has released a video series called "The Cast Remembers," where the series' stars discuss their time on the hit show.

In Emilia Clarke's video, the actress talked about her first experience on set playing Daenerys Targaryen. The then-22-year-old was shooting a scene while riding a horse through a bamboo field, and she ended up falling off. When she realized the whole cast and crew had seen it, she burst into tears of embarrassment.

"Yeah, I remember my first day on set. Oh my God, I fell off a f**king horse," Clarke shared. "Jesus, this is my first job, this is like the first thing I ever did and they stuck me on a horse. In a bamboo field in Belfast, and it's raining. I was falling off the horse and trying to act still, and I remember just ... hanging on for dear life, and I just remember shouting 'please stop filming!' And I'm like 'OK, everything's going to be fine.' Turn around and I’m like, 'oh my God, there's like the whole crew,' and I just cried. That was my first day on Game of Thrones."

Apart from a shaky first day, Clarke said playing Daenerys has changed her as a person and made her a better actress. "I had more spine-tingly, goosebump, joyful, punch-the-air-yay days on this show than anything in my life. That's the thing about Dany: every season she gets better, every season there's something else bigger than the last season, better than the last season," the 32-year-old star explained.

"Leaving this show is leaving a part of me," Clarke concluded.

The final season of Game of Thrones begins on April 14.

This article also appears on Mental Floss.