Emilia Clarke

Clarke trained at the Drama Centre London before breaking through internationally as the lead of one of television's biggest ongoing fantasy series, a role that made her one of the most in-demand young actresses in the world by the time Genisys came calling.

Cast as a battle-hardened teenage Sarah Connor at the height of her Game of Thrones fame — swapping dragons for a shotgun and a T-800 bodyguard — she took on the role while simultaneously filming that series, requiring a demanding schedule split between the two productions.

Her version of Sarah Connor was deliberately written as tougher and more combat-ready from the outset than Linda Hamilton's more gradually transformed original, reflecting the film's broader reworking of the franchise's established timeline.