Emilia Clarke explains why she turned down offer to star in 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

Emilia Clarke opens up about her 'difficult' decision to reject 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

By Zaid Bin Amir
|
March 02, 2026
Emilia Clarke explains why she turned down offer to star in 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

Emilia Clarke has finally revealed why she turned down the offer to star in the popular franchise, Fifty Shades of Grey.

The 39-year-old actress shared that she rejected the role of Anastasia Steele in the erotic romantic film because she did not want to be labeled as a "nude" actress.

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“I’d done nudity before and was concerned with being labelled for doing it again," saidEmilia.

The actress further shared that she "really wanted to work with Sam Taylor-Johnson because she’s f–king amazing. But there is a huge amount of nudity in the film."

"I’ll never say, ‘I’m never doing nudity,'" added the Last Christmas actress.

In 2015, in an interview with THR, Emilia shared that turning down Fifty Shades of Grey was a difficult decision.

"Well, Sam is a magician," said Emilia . "I love her, and I thought her vision was beautiful. But the last time that I was naked on camera on [Game of Thrones] was a long time ago, and yet it is the only question that I ever get asked because I am a woman."

"And it's annoying as hell and I'm sick and tired of it because I did it for the character — I didn't do it so some guy could check out my tits, for God's sake," she continued.

"So, that coming up, I was like, 'I can't.' I did a minimal amount and I'm pigeonholed for life, so me saying yes to that, where the entire thing is about sensuality and se* and being naked and all of that stuff, I was just like, 'No way am I going to voluntarily walk into that situation and then never be able to look someone in the eye and be like, 'No, you can't keep asking me this question,'" addedEmilia.

For those unversed,Dakota Johnson played the lead role in Fifty Shades of Grey alongside Christian Grey.

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