NOTE: Spoilers for the Game of Thrones season 6 finale
Fans were surprised during the latest episode of Game of Thrones to see Queen Margaery Tyrell killed off as Cersei Lannister's plan to rid herself of many enemies in one fell swoop came to fruition.
Credit: HBO
Speaking to EW about the dramatic conclusion to her character arc, Dormer explained: "I preempted the phone call because in true Natalie Dormer-style I tried to fit a million projects into a single year. I requested [during 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.
"They were like, 'We weren't going to tell you this for a few more months, but we're not going to release you now, so you can't do that job you really want to do and we're really sorry about that. But on the bright side, we are going to release you proper in the not-so-distant future'.
"It was good news, bad news - no you can't do this, but don't worry, you're going to have lots more opportunities very soon."
She also spoke about her final scenes, praising the way in which things were brought to a close.
"I thought it was really clever," she commented. "I really did. It's not an echo of anything you've seen in the last six years. It's truly its 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. 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."
Game of Thrones returns to HBO and Sky Atlantic in spring 2017.
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