Emilia Clarke says meeting Sansa in 'Game of Thrones' felt 'exhilarating'

March 13 (UPI) -- Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke says her character meeting Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) was an "exhilarating" experience.

The 32-year-old actress teased Daenerys Targaryen's first encounter with Sansa at Winterfell in Season 8 in an interview with Harper's Bazaar published Tuesday.

"It's really surreal," Clarke said. "I mean, you play into what it feels like for the character as well, because it's new and it's odd, and you're coming into someone else's turf and you're got a lot of actors that you know really well, who were like, 'This is our home.'"

"But also I must admit for the character, I felt it. I felt with every one of those moments that obviously the show is packed to the gills with," she added. "I felt for her. I was like, 'Yes! Here we are! We're in, we're speaking with Sansa, we are that much closer. It felt great. Very, very exhilarating."

Dany will meet Sansa, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Bran Stark (Ian Hempstead-Wright) for the first time after arriving in Winterfell with her lover Jon Snow (Kit Harington). Clarke said Dany begins "cocksure" but is thrown off, perhaps by Bran sharing the news she and Jon are related.

"She starts feeling pretty sure cocksure and confident, and then stuff happens," the star said.

Clarke also teased tension to come in the eighth and final season. She likened the show ending to "the metaphorical undoing of the bra" after a long day.

"Game of Thrones is probably the hardest shooting I'll do, because it is so physical and you're in a corset!" the actress said. "You've got the physical place of where you are, the weather is so extreme, and the hours are really long and there's so much tension in each character towards the end. There's so much tension in the room, and you're concentrating so hard. It's strenuous."

Game of Thrones returns April 14 on HBO. The series released a first trailer this month featuring Dany, Sansa, Jon, Arya, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), Jamie Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and other characters.