HBOGame of Thrones' big finale had everything we could ever want: revenge, confirmed fan theories, explosions, and deaths, but there was one death we were sad to see happen.
Queen Margaery figured out that something was up when Cersei didn't show up for her own trial, but she figured it out just slightly too late, and by then, the High Sparrow wasn't going to let her out of the building. So when Cersei's planned wildfire explosion went off, Margaery went up with the Great Sept. Soon after, her husband, King Tommen, committed suicide by walking out of his window.
Natalie Dormer, who played Margaery, sounded off to Harper's Bazaar about her death.
"It seemed an exciting, fitting way to depart," she told the magazine. "Margaery's been battling Cersei for the last however many years and she ends up dying on the show not because she didn't beat Cersei, but because she trusted that someone else—the Sparrow—was handling her. She had the reins taken away from her, from being in control of the situation; the High Sparrow took the reins and it proves that he underestimated Cersei in a way that Margaery never would have. There's a moment before Margaery and the High Sparrow die when they look at each other and Margaery realizes that Cersei has outplayed him and she's gonna die because of that. There's this moment that Jonathan Pryce gives as well; this look on his face when he realizes he's been outplayed by Cersei. Margaery is a fatality of the High Sparrow underestimating Cersei."
Margaery may not have been as active this season as she was in past seasons, since she spent most of her time locked up by the Sparrow, but she'll certainly still be missed.
"I'm sure everyone will be sad. I'd like to think that people will be sad to see the Tyrells unjustly blown to smithereens!" she said of what she thought the fan reaction would be. "As an audience member you spend so much time with these characters, you get to know them very well and to have them so irreverently snatched from you and killed is really harsh. But that's what real life is and that's why Game of Thrones is the powerhouse that it is. It's not scared to take away some of your favorite characters. It's always been brave, this show."
Dormer also told the magazine that she had purposely not seen the episode yet.
"I think everyone will have their breath taken away by all the characters, especially Tommen's decision because that's very dramatic. I wasn't there the day Dean-Charles [Chapman] shot that scene but I heard it was very moving for the crew members who were watching it. Other than my storyline, I don't know what happens in Episode 10 on purpose so I can watch it like a fan. I'm really excited."
In fact, Dormer kept herself in the dark about most of the season, so that when she bumped into Rory McCann (the Hound) in the make up trailer, she was shocked to find out he was coming back.
"When I saw him in the makeup trailer I was completely bowled over that he returned because I hadn't read the script! And then I walked out of the trailer going, "Aw damn!", I kind of wished I hadn't seen him because now I knew the Hound was coming back," she said.
"It's hilarious and weird because I was interviewed a few months previously and I was asked if I could bring back any character, who would it be. I said the Hound and at the time I didn't know. It was a comment made completely innocently; I wasn't trying to do a spoiler or a tease or be clever, I genuinely wanted Rory back! And lo and behold, there he was in the makeup trailer one day.
As for whether or not Margaery could still be alive, Dormer pretty much says we're out of luck, even if we didn't specifically see her die on screen.
"I'm pretty sure no one is escaping from that Sept," she said.
You can read the rest of the interview in Harper's Bazaar.