30-year-old British actress Emilia Clarke, best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s Game of Thrones, has been cast in the upcoming Han Solo standalone movie.
The worlds of Star Wars and Game of Thrones have finally met.
Image Credit: HBO
Emilia Clarke, best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s Game of Thrones, is officially a member of the cast of the upcoming Star Wars standalone film about Han Solo.
From StarWars.com, where the announcement was made this afternoon:
"StarWars.com is excited to announce that Clarke, known for her stirring portrayal of Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, will join the upcoming untitled Han Solo Star Wars movie. Clarke’s role will round out a dynamic cast of characters that Han and Chewie will encounter on their adventures."
Rumors have long circulated that Disney and Lucasfilm were searching for a lead actress for the 2018 Star Wars standalone movie. In October, it was rumored that Tessa Thompson (Selma), Naomi Scott (Power Rangers), and Zoe Kravitz (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) read for the role. For now, however, Clarke is the first official female member of the Han Solo film cast.
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Other confirmed cast members include Alden Ehrenreich as young Han Solo and Donald Glover as young Lando Calrissian.
Clarke is a dynamite package on-screen. The character of Daenerys Targaryen, who is a fierce leader as well as the mistress of three powerful dragons, has so far survived all six seasons of Game of Thrones. The greater part of Daenerys’s appeal, at least in the television series, is the intensity and focus Clarke puts into her performance.
Clarke’s acting chops are not limited to the world of Westeros. The thirty-year-old actress recently starred in a film adaptation of a popular romance novel called Me Before You. Last year, she acted alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator Genisys. Now, she is headed for a galaxy far, far away.
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Star Wars‘s standalone Han Solo movie is set to premiere in theaters in 2018.