Emilia Clarke Hits Back After Being Criticized For How She Spoke Dothraki On 'Game Of Thrones'

Athchomar chomakea, folks—or, as Game of Thrones fans may remember, “greetings to you all” in Dothraki.

It’s been five years since Emilia Clarke hung up her dragons after playing the iconic Daenerys Targaryen, but one behind-the-scenes critique from the series still makes her laugh. During a recent interview, Clarke recalled learning that her Dothraki accent had once been jokingly critiqued as less than perfect, and she admitted she took it far more seriously at the time.

For those who may need a quick refresher of the Thrones’ world: Clarke’s Daenerys is sold into marriage during Season One, joining the Dothraki, a nomadic, horse-riding warrior culture from Essos, and becoming the wife of Khal Drogo, a chieftain played by Jason Momoa. The storyline required Clarke to learn the Dothraki language alongside her character, a task that proved demanding.

Appearing on Late Night With Seth Meyers last week while promoting her new Peacock espionage series Ponies, Clarke recalled fully committing to the challenge, only to later stumble across an article in which Game of Thrones linguist David J. Peterson jokingly critiqued her accent.

Clarke remembered the moment with mock indignation:

“I put so much energy into learning Dothraki. But the creator of the language, I read in an article, said I sucked at Dothraki. I was like, ‘What, bro?’ It’s not real! It’s not a real language! I can’t suck at it because me saying it on the TV, that’s how it goes…”

Clarke framed the story with humor, admitting she felt a brief flash of irritation at the time, less genuine offense than a performer’s pride flaring up. Meyers immediately backed her logic.

“That’s Dothraki now,” the host declared, prompting Clarke to grin and reply, “And forever!”

Meyers then leaned into the absurdity of grading a fictional language at all.

Meyers joked:

“I love that guy being like, ‘I love to see her order dinner at a Dothraki restaurant.’ You’re like, ‘Don’t worry, bro. It’s not real!’”

Clarke starred across all eight seasons of Game of Thrones and earned four Emmy nominations for her portrayal of Daenerys. While she has since distanced herself from returning to epic fantasy, even telling the New York Times she’s unlikely to “get on a dragon… ever again,” she clearly still enjoys revisiting the show’s stranger behind-the-scenes moments.

She summed up her reaction with her tongue firmly in cheek, laughing and saying:

“Honestly, I was so hurt. And then really p*ssed.”

Honestly, I get it. Google Translate carried me through French class, too.

Watch Clarke reflect on her Dothraki skills at the 4:35 mark of the interview below:

- YouTubeLate Night with Seth Meyers

After the segment aired, Peterson quickly weighed in to clarify the moment, telling Entertainment Weekly that any perceived criticism had been misread, and that the “wobbly” quality Clarke remembered was exactly what the role required.

The fictional language linguist explained:

“I think Emilia may have misunderstood what I said, because I’ve never criticized her Dothraki. Why would I? Her character was never supposed to speak it like a first language, so she never had to be good at it.”

Peterson noted that actors portraying native Dothraki characters—including Jason Momoa, Amrita Acharia, Elyes Gabel, and Steven Cole—were expected to demonstrate full fluency, while Daenerys’ imperfect speech was intentionally built into the storytelling.

He has also praised Clarke publicly. In a 2019 interview with Vanity Fair, Peterson applauded her performance outright.

Peterson offered his appreciation:

“Emilia, thank you for everything you did. Your non-native, yet fluent Dothraki always sounded very nice, so well done.”

It remains unclear which article Clarke initially recalled. In a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone, Peterson described her Dothraki accent in similarly nuanced terms.

Peterson explained the distinction:

“It’s always funny to me to hear Emilia Clarke speak Dothraki. Of course, her character is not supposed to be fluent, and it really sounds… not fluent. It’s great for her character; she understands, and she can speak. She just doesn’t sound quite right.”

Social media also weighed in on the Dothraki debate, largely appreciating Clarke’s self-deprecating take.

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These days, Clarke seems to treat the entire episode as both a badge of honor and a surprisingly useful training exercise. Speaking to UPI, she joked that Dothraki turned out to be excellent preparation for the fluent Russian she needed to master for Ponies.

Clarke laughed about the learning curve:

“Because I'm an idiot, I first read the scripts, and everything's in English, and then you sort of vaguely notice that there are italics and [those words are] probably going to be in Russian, and you think: ‘That'll be fine. I did Dothraki.’”

Her co-star Haley Lu Richardson, who plays her friend and colleague Twila, admitted watching Clarke tackle yet another language was exhausting in its own right.

Richardson joked:

“I truly still don't understand how you did that. I am so impressed.”

Premiering Thursday on Peacock, the eight-episode series is set in the U.S.S.R. in 1977 and follows two American embassy wives, dubbed “Persons of No Interest,” or “ponies,” who are recruited as CIA operatives after their husbands are killed. The series centers on Clarke and Richardson’s odd-couple partnership as they navigate Cold War espionage.

You can view the trailer below:

- YouTubePeacock