‘Game of Thrones’ star Natalie Dormer on season 6 finale shocker

Margaery Tyrell died in the season 6 finale, as King Tommen Baratheon’s wife was caught in an explosion of wildfire at the Great Sept of Baelor – along with the High Sparrow and Faith Militant – just according to Cersei Lannister’s dastardly plan. Her brother, Loras, was standing trial at the time.

In the past, actors on Game of Thrones have talked about the dreaded phone call, when showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss call up the actors whose characters are about to depart from the show.

But Natalie told EW that she actually asked for her character to be killed off. “I preempted the phone call because in true Natalie Dormer-style I tried to fit a million projects into a single year. I requested [while making season 5 that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] release me from working on the show earlier than usual so I could do another project, and they ended up phoning me — and that was The Call. But I got it six months ahead of normal,” she recounted.

When asked how she felt about putting off her exit on the show for another season, Natalie said that it was fine, given that the showrunners had to fix the storylines accordingly.

Natalie also said she liked how Margaery went out, because it’s something that’s never been done on the show before.

“It’s truly it’s own unique moment to tie up what’s been a unique storyline about what’s happened in King’s Landing over the course of season 6. I thought it was an inspired choice,” she said.

Natalie also commented on how Margaery figured out that Cersei had something up her sleeve, convincing everyone that they had to leave the Great Sept: “And it’s really interesting that I am given a moment of some vindication at the very end, which was the perfect way for Margaery to leave the show. She’s given a platform to say that she was right, as she always is. But because the power was taken from her, she couldn’t do anything about it.”

She’s done playing Margaery for good (although as far as we know, Game of Thrones has a habit of bringing dead characters back to life), but the character will always be special to her, said Natalie. Across her career, Margaery spent the longest time playing the character.

“I’ll always have a little yellow rose after my heart,” she said, referring to the Tyrell sigil, “and I think it was just the right length of time, to be honest. It’s time for the Westeros story to move on and it’s a perfect time for her to exit.”