Emilia Clarke: Star Wars is hallowed ground

In the second plum role of her career, Emilia Clarke plays Qi'ra, the young Han Solo's (Alden Ehrenreich) first love, in the standalone Star Wars prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Both grew up as orphans in Corellia, the ship-building planet. When circumstances separate them, she does her best to survive, and they meet again when she is the lieutenant of a mob boss (played by Paul Bettany).

"I think she has done some dark things," said the 31-year-old English actress, best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in the hit TV series Game Of Thrones (GOT) at our interview at the Pasadena Convention Centre.

"Han softens her. She is bound to the lifestyle she has found herself in order to survive, but she will always hold a torch for Han. It is that realisation, that reminder, that keeps her human and in this ambiguous place of whether she is good or bad."

Clarke identifies with Qi'ra to a certain extent.

"She doesn't take no for an answer. I am bringing as much of myself as I can to her but yeah, she is a lot scrappier than I am."

Of course, there are the inevitable comparisons to GOT when we talk about the special effects of Solo, which is showing here and has fallen short of industry expectations by opening with only US$103 million (S$139 million) at the North American box office.

She said for the TV show, the environment was created for it from scratch.

"So when I go back and revisit different seasons, it kind of feels familiar in a way that I understand because we created that physical space, where before it had existed only in people's imagination.

"Whereas with Star Wars, what you have is something akin to Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy. It is hallowed ground, it is magical, and it is the stuff dreams are made of.

"When you walk onto that set and when you are dealing with the beloved characters that you have grown up knowing intimately, it is just different.

"It is more of a kind of 'pinch yourself, feel six years old' joy."

Of course, we had to carry on with the GOT questions as fans eagerly await the eighth and final season next year.

Clarke said multiple endings were shot so even she does not know how it is going to end. Has she made her peace with the goodbyes at least?

"There is so much that I am lucky with in my life that I am living with Star Wars and Game Of Thrones, it is kind of a fairy tale. I made a promise to myself to not forget what filming the final season is like, so I have been writing a diary entry every filming day to just keep track of it.

"It ends up me moaning really, at the end of the day, always. It moans into the same old stuff - I am really tired or we got a lot of rain. But it is incredibly emotional, it is really bittersweet."

One (minor) spoiler alert did come, when asked which cast member she particularly bonded with.

Daenerys' loyal right-hand man Ser Jorah Mormont, played by Iain Glen, is still around, at least for most of the season.

She hinted: "Going into the final season, you find those people, they become really apparent. Iain is one of the big ones."

In the meantime, Clarke is getting used to being famous.

"I am lucky I get to do amazing jobs like this and meet really great people where that doesn't need to come into play too much. Fame is a fickle thing that will be there one minute and gone the next, and I am incredibly aware of that.

"And so not to create too much of yourself based on that fact, I think is really important. You can't let it be something that defines you or your relationships because it is not always going to be the case," she said.

BEING FAMOUS

She added: "(English actor) Simon Pegg had this really good quote that I read a number of years ago. He said, 'Being famous feels like wearing a silly hat you can't take off.' It is a bizarre thing. One minute it is great and people like your movie, and then the next minute they won't and that is okay.

"I didn't get into acting for that so I am lucky in that sense."

When asked if there is going to be a sequel to Solo, she said coyly: "We can hope, can't we? Yeah. We are definitely promoting this guy."

So, Han Solo or Jon Snow?

The latter is GOT's hero of the moment and Daenerys' latest love interest, played by English heart-throb Kit Harington.

She said with a laugh: "I sort of can't decide. They are both roguish in their own way. And they are both charming, both gorgeous. So yeah, it genuinely is really difficult. I really couldn't... They would need to fight it out in my honour."