Game of Thrones: Natalie Dormer Weighs In on Margaery Marrying 12-Year-Old Tommen

Actress says fifth season is going be "pretty dark and damp and dingy"

By Marc Malkin Oct 13, 2014 7:22 PMTags
Dean-Charles Chapman, Natalie Dormer, Game of ThronesHBO

Things are royally awkward on Game of Thrones.

At the upcoming fifth season, Margaery is set to marry Tommen, the 12-year-old brother of her dead husband, Joffrey.

"Margaery is just trying to play the next, you know, round of cards with the ones she's been dealt, so it's a particularly awkward situation for her, and young Tommen as well, so she's just trying to befriend the kid," Natalie Dormer, who plays Margaery, told me at the Extremely Piaget launch and opening of the high-end jewelry house's Rodeo Drive flagship. "She's just trying to befriend him. It's very awkward as an actress being given that specification. It's not an easy thing to do."

Dormer said she couldn't exactly prepare for the storyline. "I wasn't expecting to be alive still," she cracked. "But here I am, so I'm just navigating it the best I can and as delicately as I can, to be honest."

Helen Sloan/HBO

The cast and crew of the hit HBO series is about halfway through shooting the new season.

"Things are getting pretty dark and damp and dingy right now," Dormer warned.

She tries not to bring that darkness home. "We're actors, you shake it out, leave it at the door," Dormer said. "Sometimes it's hard, sometimes a character can get into your blood. It's an interesting one, because this is the longest I've ever played a character. Previous to this, Anne Boleyn two years [on The Tudors], so now to be with Margaery for the fourth year…every season you get to learn something new about them. It's like learning something you didn't know about your best friend."

B. Polay/HBO

In the meantime, Dormer will next be seen on the big screen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1. She had to buzz off the hair on the left side of her head for her work as Cressida.

"They shaved my head every day, a clean shave," she said. "It was cold. I don't know if you guys remember the winter, but it was cold! Those polar vortexes! I was wearing my beanie a lot."

The first of the two Mockingjay movies is in theaters on Nov. 21. Dormer has seen the movie, gushing, "Man, I'm telling you, I'm so happy and proud to be a part of this incredible franchise."

Watch: Natalie Dormer Teases Upcoming "Game of Thrones" Season