Emilia Clarke’s Humble Beginnings: The $1 Million Dinosaur Movie You Probably Missed
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Before Emilia Clarke became a household name as Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones, she was just another aspiring actress taking whatever work she could find — including a little-known, low-budget dinosaur movie for the Syfy channel.
That film, Triassic Attack (2010), stands out today as the lowest-budget project Clarke has ever worked on. Produced for television and estimated to have cost between $1 and $2 million, the made-for-TV movie follows the chaos unleashed when dinosaur fossils come to life. While exact figures were never officially disclosed, industry comparisons to similar Syfy originals — like the cult hit Sharknado (2013) — put the budget squarely in the million-dollar range.
For Clarke, it was an early stepping stone. Fresh out of drama school, she was eager to take any role that might get her noticed. Triassic Attack may not have been a critical darling, but it offered her valuable on-set experience and a credit that helped open the door to future opportunities.
That door, of course, would swing wide just a year later when she landed the role of a lifetime as the Mother of Dragons on HBO. From there, Clarke’s projects grew exponentially in scale and budget. Indie films like Spike Island (2012) and Voice from the Stone (2017) were modest by Hollywood standards, costing an estimated $5–10 million each. By contrast, her blockbuster turns in Terminator Genisys (2015) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) came with eye-popping budgets of $155 million and over $275 million, respectively.
While Triassic Attack might seem like a quirky footnote in Clarke’s career, it’s a reminder that even the biggest stars often start small — sometimes in a one-million-dollar dinosaur movie on basic cable. For Clarke, those early days were less about the paycheck and more about the chance to prove herself — a gamble that paid off spectacularly.
If you want, I can also put together a fun, fan-friendly “Then and Now” piece comparing Clarke’s look, roles, and production values between Triassic Attack and her Game of Thrones era. That would make for a visually engaging entertainment feature.
