--- description: Emilia Clarke was nervous about her audition for the show — so nervous that she thought it would be a good idea to dance the Funky Chicken. title: Emilia Clarke Danced The Funky Chicken During Her 'GoT' Audition image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e3ff9cb91259820/698894578e060151db465ff5/rts8haa.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Emilia Clarke Danced The Funky Chicken During Her _Game of Thrones_ Audition by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 23, 2016 8:47 AM CUT  Actress Emilia Clarke arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California February 28, 2016. Actress Emilia Clarke arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California February 28, 2016.Danny Moloshok—Reuters by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 23, 2016 8:47 AM CUT For six seasons, Emilia Clarke has played Daenerys Targaryen on _Game of Thrones,_ a role that has earned her two Emmy nominations. But before that, she was just a British actress nervous about her audition for the show — so nervous, it seems, that she thought it would be a good idea to dance the Funky Chicken during that audition. “\[_Game of Thrones_ showrunner\] David Benioff was like ‘you can do a dance’ — like, as a joke,” Clarke [told](http://variety.com/video/emilia-clarke-game-of-thrones-audition-funky-chicken/ "undefined") Jay Duplass on _Variety Studio: Actors on Actors_. “And I took him so seriously, because I was just so — I might as well have brought in a little apple, like, a teacher’s pet; I just wanted it so bad.” She told Duplass that _Game of Thrones_ fans would unfortunately probably not have the chance to witness a reenactment. “I’ve tried to make \[my character\] funny, and it just doesn’t work,” she said. “Khaleesi isn’t funny.” \[[_Variety_](http://variety.com/video/emilia-clarke-game-of-thrones-audition-funky-chicken/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4344505/emilia-clarke-daenerys-targaryen-audition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4344505/emilia-clarke-daenerys-targaryen-audition/"},"headline":"Emilia Clarke Danced The Funky Chicken During Her Game of Thrones Audition","datePublished":"2016-05-23T08:47:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:45:04.450Z","description":"Unfortunately, fans won't get to see a reenactment on the show","url":"https://time.com/4344505/emilia-clarke-daenerys-targaryen-audition/","keywords":["Television","game of thrones","emilia clarke"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e3ff9cb91259820/698894578e060151db465ff5/rts8haa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e3ff9cb91259820/698894578e060151db465ff5/rts8haa.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Actress Emilia Clarke arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills","caption":"Actress Emilia Clarke arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills","creditText":"Danny Moloshok—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4344505/emilia-clarke-daenerys-targaryen-audition/","name":"Emilia Clarke Danced The Funky Chicken During Her Game of Thrones Audition"}}]}] ```