It took Natalie Dormer some time to come to terms with the tragic fate of her Game of Thrones counterpart.

Subversion of tropes has been pretty par for the course for the Game of Thrones IP, especially with the deaths of some of its most beloved characters. While some characters, like Jorah Mormont and Hodor, received honorable deaths, the adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s acclaimed novel didn’t pull punches with some of the more unexpected and brutal deaths.

Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell | Credit: Game of Thrones/HBO

Natalie Dormer’s Margaery had the misfortune to be on the receiving end of one of the show’s most brutal deaths, and it took the actress a while to come to terms with her abrupt departure from the show.

Natalie Dormer Was Frustrated by Her Got Send-off

A still from Game of Thrones | Credit: HBO
In season 6 of GOT, Margaery dies a brutal death at the explosion of Sept of Baelor, orchestrated by her rival Cersei Lannister. Reflecting on her explosive send-off, Natalie Dormer, who had been attached to the gig since season 2, recalled feeling frustrated by how things wrapped up for her.

However, one older actor assisted the actress in coming to terms with Margaery’s abrupt death, as she recognized her frustrations stemmed from her connection with the character, as her GOT counterpart was also “frustrated in the scene”.

I was frustrated that she went that way, but then she was frustrated in the scene. And I was once told by a much older actor, ‘Don’t get confused. If you’re feeling something, always check yourself that it’s not just that your character is feeling it, and, via osmosis, it’s seeping into you.’ Because if you play something, your body doesn’t know any different, and if you’re playing something repetitively, as you obviously have to do on a shoot, sometimes that emotion can seep into you.

Considering Margaery was giving Cersei a run for her money, and it was the latter’s fear of losing the throne to Margaery that pushed Cersei to orchestrate her destruction, it’s easy to see why Margaery’s death was so frustrating.

Natalie Dormer Felt Margaery Was Vindicated in Her Final Moments

A still from Game of Thrones | Credit: HBO

Given all the hardships Margaery endured throughout her tenure in the show, Dorman expressed that her GOT counterpart deserved better than being blown to bits. However, the actress felt that Margaery was vindicated at the end following her attempts to warn everyone, which provided her closure.

So, of course, she deserved better. I wanted more for her, but she’s so frustrated in that moment with the Sparrow, with Jonathan [Pryce], and so that’s part of it. That’s how you know you’re doing it right, because you’re like, ‘I just need someone to listen to me a little bit more.’ She was vindicated in the end. It’s just a couple of sentences, but it’s all that needed to be said. She was vindicated, and I felt like I could let her go in that moment because I was like, ‘She said it, man’.

But following GOT‘s nature, where plot armor is a distant tool, at least for the most part, nothing is out of the books.