Emilia Clarke defends Game of Thrones from the critics

Actress Emilia Clarke has jumped headfirst into the sexism debate surrounding her show Game Of Thrones.

The Brit, who plays tough queen Daenerys Targaryen on the cult series, hasn't got time for critics who have taken aim at the programme's negative portrayal of women, insisting they've all missed the fact the show is packed with queens and female warriors.

"There’s so much controversy," she tells Entertainment Weekly. "That’s what’s beautiful about Game of Thrones - it's (the) depiction of women in so many different stages of development.

"There are women depicted as sexual tools, women who have zero rights, women who are queens but only to a man, and then there are women who are literally unstoppable and as powerful as you can possibly imagine.

"It pains me to hear people taking Thrones out of context with anti-feminist spin, because you can’t do that about this show. It shows the range that happens to women, and ultimately shows women are not only equal, but have a lot of strength."

Emilia suggests the feminists should make more of a fuss about the fact her male co-stars are never asked about disrobing for the show's racy scenes, while she and her female castmates have to find different ways of answering the same question.

"How many times has Daario (actor Michiel Huisman) been asked about the fact he's taken his clothes off a bunch?" the actress asks. "Is that even a discussion? No."

Emilia isn't the only Game of Thrones star defending the show - actor Alfie Allen recently backed the drama's writers and directors after they were hit with an avalanche of criticism last year (15) following a rape scene featuring Sophie Turner's character Sansa Stark, of which his character, Theon Greyjoy, was a spectator.

He told Australia's Junkee news website, "It's obviously something that I don't really like to get into or talk about, and in any real life situation if that were to happen, it must be awful to deal with. But I think it was very delicately handled and if it can be beautifully done, then it was beautifully done.

"It was a horrible day to shoot, you know. It wasn't enjoyable... It was tough. But there was such a furor about that, then two episodes later you've got an eight-year-old being burnt at the stake and no one really seemed to care too much about that. It's mental, isn't it?"