Why fans should be nervous about this ‘Game of Thrones’ star’s new haircut
After seven harrowing seasons under a heavy blonde wig, “Game of Thrones” actress Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, is unleashing her inner Mother of Dragons.
The Khaleesi, whose string of royal monikers is even longer than the bleach blonde locks fans have come to know her for, announced the new blonde look on Instagram Tuesday, saying, “I done did it. Mother of Dragons meet Emilia. Emilia meet mother of dragons. If you squint just so, you might never know.”
What’s causing some stir among Thrones’ fans, though, is that production on Season 8 of the show has been rumored to start as early as next month. So with episodes to be shot sometime in the near future, what might the new look mean for one of television’s most bad-a-- leading ladies?
She also shouted out to the show’s head hair stylist Kev Alexander after the dye job that swaps her natural brown hair for a blonde that screams Targaryen, though shorter and nowhere near as full as her flowing blonde wig.
The possibility that a shorter-cropped look (sans wig) for Clarke may translate to defeat on the battlefield in Season 8 is giving the Huffington Post a case of “Game of Thrones” anxiety. If Dany’s signature locks through the first seven seasons are somehow analogous to a Dothraki Khal’s hair flowing victorious in battle, perhaps the short blonde look could mean defeat lies ahead for Khaleesi’s armies.
Or, could a shorter ‘do mean imprisonment in King’s Landing? That’s another possibility, according to Elle. Remember now-Queen Cersei’s Walk of Shame, which came after a Faith-mandated buzz cut?
“Game of Thrones” fans will remember the uproar following the last time one of the show’s primaries appeared to get a haircut. After Jon Snow was killed at the end of Season 5, actor Kit Harrington was seen with a shorter hairdo for another project, and people thought that meant Snow really was dead for good.
But then fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when it came out that Harrington’s shorter-cropped look was itself a wig. He was seen at Wimbledon in 2015 sporting the signature Jon Snow look, prompting the masses to again speculate that Snow would be brought back to life in Season 6, which, of course, he was.
Whatever conclusions are to be drawn from Clarke’s new haircut, there’s one thing we can all be confident of when looking forward to the start of Season 8, which could come in 2018 or 2019, apparently: a good deal of strife lies ahead for all our favorite Game of Thrones characters as the epic series draws to a close.
This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Why fans should be nervous about this ‘Game of Thrones’ star’s new haircut."