In an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times, actress Emilia Clarke got real with her thoughts about the end to Game of Thrones, the beloved series in which she starred.

“When the show did end, it was like coming out of a bunker. Everything felt really strange. Then obviously for it to have the backlash it did …” she told the Times of the HBO drama’s controversial ending, which many fans found disappointing. “I knew how I felt when I first read it, and I tried, at every turn, not to consider too much what other people might say, but I did always consider what the fans might think — because we did it for them, and they were the ones who made us successful, so … it’s just polite, isn’t it?”

Clarke, who played Daenerys Tagaryn on the series, thinks that a lot of the reason fans felt so strongly about her character’s downfall had to do with unrest in the real world. To many, Game of Thrones was a treasured release, which raised expectations for its final run.

“I do think that the global temperature, how much horrific news there is consistently, goes a way to explain the enormity of the fans’ outrage,” she said. “Because people are going, finally, here’s something I can actually see and understand and get some control back over … and then when that turns, and you don’t like what they’ve done …”

By the end of the conversation with the Times, the 33-year-old actress was less diplomatic, however.

“Yeah, I felt for her. I really felt for her,” she said of her character’s demise. “And yeah, was I annoyed that Jon Snow didn’t have to deal with something? He got away with murder — literally.”

She also agreed that the final season could have been paced differently, saying, “We could have spun it out for a little longer.” It could have included more dialogue, she added: “It was all about the set pieces.”

Elsewhere in the interview Clarke touched on being single — “Dating in this industry is interesting” — as well as her forthcoming gig playing Nina in a West End production of Chekhov’s The Seagull which is set to open in June.

As for whether or not Clarke is happy Game of Thrones ended when it did, she said, “I mean, ‘happy’ is a funny word. It’s a strong word. Again, the show was so big. I was a small cog in a very, very, very big machine …”