Natalie Dormer talks about watching Lady Olenna die on 'Game of Thrones': 'I was a bit pissed off!'
[This post contains spoilers for Season 6 and 7 of Game of Thrones]
After their characters' inevitable demise, former Game of Thrones stars get to watch what happens to the loved ones left behind in Westeros -- and most of the time, it isn't very pretty.
In the case of Natalie Dormer, House Tyrell didn't fair well after Margaery's own untimely death in Season 6. And the magnetic actress couldn't help but feel some kind of way about it, even a year after she parting ways with the character.
"I was a bit pissed off!" Dormer told Mashable when asked about the bloody fate of her fictional family in the newest season, during an interview promoting her upcoming Amazon series Picnic at the Hanging Rock.
The Season 7 "Queen's Justice" episode not only saw the death of Margaery's beloved grandmother, Lady Olenna (AKA Queen of Burns), but also the decimation of her entire bloodline and family home.
"Just looking at how gorgeous High Garden was — and when the High Garden soldiers were all dead on the floor I felt, you know, protective. It was so stupid. It was that little bit of Margaery that’s still in the back of my brain," she said. She couldn't help but think, "Men wearing my sigil, lying in a pool of their own blood on the floor. I was like, ‘Who’s done this to my home!?’”
Dormer's fiery portrayal of Margaery quickly became a fan favorite when she was introduced in Season 2. She brought a depth to the character that outshined her much more minor role in the books. Which made Margaery's explosive death on the show in 2016 twice as devastating.
Now, Dormer watches the HBO hit like everyone else, as the fully invested fan she had been back in Season 1 before even joining the cast.
"It was a very moving scene," she said of Lady Olenna's iconic final moments with Jaime Lannister after the siege of High Garden. "You really feel them revving the gears in [Season 7]. There’s got to be a lot of collateral damage to get to the end of Season 8. So you can kind of smell that it’s coming."
The Tyrells may be gone from the show, but they live on as the roses of Westeros in our hearts. And those still vexed at their House's downfall are in good company.
"It would not have happened if Margaery had still been alive," Dormer concluded, giving one of those all-knowing smirks.
Topics Game Of Thrones
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
