Emilia Clarke played Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones for all eight seasons, becoming a household name in the process. The show was a pop culture phenomenon, and Daenerys was at the center of everything.

It was an intense role to play, and a lot happened in Clarke’s life while she was playing it. She had two aneurysms, lost her father, and got a crash course on fame, fortune and Hollywood. “All of that happening while ‘Game of Thrones’ was happening, it sometimes could be very confusing,” Clarke told the Los Angeles Times. “There were times when I was really sad on that show, just simply because I was a young woman in her 20s.”

With a few years between her and the series finale, Clarke is better able to put the experience in perspective and appreciate how remarkable it was, and how iconic a character she got to play. “It’s not a shabby role to be associated with,” she said. “Daenerys, I hope, is associated with a certain caliber of work, so lucky me that that’s the case. As long as people don’t ask me about nudity.”

Emilia Clarke feels “lucky” to be associated with Daenerys Targaryen

You can currently see Clarke on the new Marvel show Secret Invasion, airing on Disney+. She plays G’iah, a shape-shifting Skrull alien who has grown tired of living in secret alongside Earthlings and is now part of a movement to take over the planet, although she ends up turning double agent and helping the humans.