The bright-smiled and ever-enthusiastic Emilia Clarke has become a welcome household name since her outstanding performance as Daenerys Targaryen on the fantasy phenomenon Game of Thrones, and more recently in the Star Wars franchise and now on Marvel’s mini-project Secret Invasion. While making the rounds for her newest Sundance film project, The Pod Generation (2023), Clarke spoke in an interview with IndieWire about the prospects of returning to the Star Wars universe after her last appearance in the well-received prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).
Clarke responded that she would happily return to reprise her former role as smuggler Han Solo’s childhood friend and love interest Qi’ra but noted that Disney hadn’t made any motion to consider the possibility of a follow-up film, likely after the very underwhelming box office performance of Solo.
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Clarke has never made light of the adoration she has for her Star Wars character and even made mention before of creative ideas she had personally compiled about the potential future of Qi’ra’s character. She jokingly hoped she could pass the ideas to Disney for a read-over but knew it wasn’t realistic and hadn’t worried about it.
“That would be lovely, that would be very nice. I’m genuinely having a wicked time on Marvel [Studios miniseries Secret Invasion], though, they’re absolutely brilliant.”
Aside from Clarke, there has been enthusiasm from others on the Solo prequel cast and crew about pursuing a follow-up film. Co-writer Jonathan Kasdan has expressed interest, remarking that he’d like to help fill an infamous plot hole from the previous movie about Qi’ra’s involvement in the Kessel heist, that she shouldn’t have been involved in it, to begin with. Clarke’s co-star Ehrenreich is also down for a sequel, stating that it would allow him to truly come into the older character of Han that classic fans recognize. However, it would still ultimately be up to the word of Disney, which has been grappling with the future of the Star Wars franchise as a whole.
“[Qi’ra’s] the one that has the most unfinished business. I really had pages about what her life was and what it would be afterwards. But I’m afraid I’ve heard nothing of [Disney+] being the case, so maybe I’ll just write it and send it to them. I’ll be like, ‘Hey guys, I’ve got a few ideas."
Emilia Clarke’s Turn From Blockbusters to Indie Specialties
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After her emergence to the entire world in 2010 on HBO’s Game of Thrones, young Emilia was literally riding high above everyone else, not just on dragon back but on her career arc. For nearly 10 years as the Mother of Dragons, she helmed one of the most iconic characters in television, and arguably her performance was the catalyst for the ongoing, very successful prequel House of the Dragon. Although she suffered two major brain aneurysms during the show’s earlier seasons, she remarkably pulled through and credited Daenerys as the source of her willpower to survive. Without a doubt, Game of Thrones gave Clarke much-deserved recognition as an actress and as a genuine-hearted person who nowadays wants little more than to give back and explore the deepest forms of art in film.
After the thrilling rollercoaster with HBO and her big-time roles in both Terminator Genisys (2015) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), Clarke opted to cruise back down to more intimate, creative projects abundant in artistic and social commentary. She shined in the Christmas-time romantic drama Me Before You (2016) alongside Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), and later Voice From the Stone (2017) and Above Suspicion (2019). She is currently promoting her latest project, The Pod Generation (2023), a sci-fi romance that tackles the growing human dependence on technology and whether it can go too far. In her interview with IndieWire, Clarke described her experience with more “high concept” projects like The Pod Generation and her enjoyment of working on such projects.
“The thing that I want most for the rest of my career is to work with as many auteurs and filmmakers in the independent film space and be as creatively fulfilled as I possibly can be. And I’ve had access to some incredible experiences and been able to work with some astonishing people…I absolutely adore high concept ideas and material. That’s the stuff I really enjoy reading as well, kind of magical realism. I think that’s where the joy and of storytelling comes into its own. When you are able to give someone a world that is not our own to explore incredibly big philosophical ideas. To do as many of those as I possibly can moving forward would be excellent.”
