Entertainment

Did Emilia Clarke really go naked on 'Game of Thrones?’ Let’s examine the evidence

EntertainmentPublished May 16, 2016
By Shaunna Murphy
game of thrones daenerys season 6 fireHBO

On Sunday night's (May 15) "Game of Thrones," Emilia Clarke — for the first time in three years — got buck naked. 

... Or did she?

Related: 'Game of Thrones': Why Dany saved Season 6 by lighting it on fire in 'Book of the Stranger'

Let's examine the evidence, guys. To the untrained eye — or more accurately, to the eye that hasn't read dozens of stories about Clarke not wanting to do nudity anymore — this most certainly is a fully naked Emilia Clarke:

game of thrones emilia clarke daenerys naked fire-placeholder
game of thrones emilia clarke daenerys naked fire
HBO

Clarke, of course, swears that this was 100 percent her. As she told Entertainment Weekly's James Hibberd, “I’d like to remind people the last time I took my clothes off was Season 3. That was awhile ago. It’s now Season 6. But this is all me, all proud, all strong. I’m just feeling genuinely happy I said ‘Yes.’ That ain’t no body double!"

She also said that these scenes were filmed on a closed set, unlike the much more public moments she shot during Season 1.

“Taking off my clothes is not the easiest thing, but with the magic of the effects, I don’t have to do a Season 1 and go on a cliff and do it,” she added. “I’m in control of it.”

So, yeah — it sounds like Clarke really did get naked then, right? For the sake of full disclosure I could not care less either way, and my instinct in all situations, except for when Sonja or Dorinda's boyfriend John are talking on "Real Housewives," is to believe women. HOWEVER, the tinfoil-hat wearer in me has some doubts.

First and foremost, because we've all seen the magic that body doubles can do, via this:

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game of thrones cersei walk
HBO

That was obviously the indomitable Lena Headey's facial work, but did you know that the nude lady walking the streets of King's Landing in "shame" was actually a body double named Rebecca Van Cleave

If you didn't, no one would blame you, because "Game of Thrones" is a ridiculously moneyed production that can afford to have its actresses use state-of-the-art digital technology to avoid showing their private bits on camera. 

So when Clarke showed up last night in the buff, fans instantly guessed that the same modesty-friendly technology was again at play:

Media Slide 6-placeholder
Media Slide 6

Thanks to the aforementioned closed set, this means all we have now is Clarke's word versus "GoT" conspiracy theorists' when it comes to her use of a body double. I cannot stress enough that whether or not she goes nude on a show that frequently requires it for its female characters but almost never its males (why didn't we see some tiny Jon Snow peen last week, huh?) is 100 percent her business, and it's also well within her right to say no. 

But to be honest with you, do I believe that Clarke suddenly did a 180 on "Game of Thrones" female nudity, after three long years of evidence to the contrary?

No, no I do not. I think "Game of Thrones" knew that this would be THE talked-about moment of Season 6, and that many fans would be disappointed if they knew the ridiculously sexy Clarke's nudity was fake. Her body has been one of the show's unofficial selling points since Season 1, and no one likes to hear it when TV and movie magic is just that — a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo wizardry, capable of believably putting one woman's head on a similarly shaped woman's body.

But regardless, at least the scene — and Clarke's "yes, it's me!" EW interview — is doing a hell of a job keeping fanboys thirsty:

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