It is always fun to watch Natalie Dormer's Margaery Tyrell go head to head with her mother-in-law Cersei Lannister (played by Lena Headey). But it looks like the two will quit getting at each other's throats in "Game of Thrones" season 6 because Dormer has just revealed that she has a new "sparring partner" to contend with.
"The beauty of Game of Thrones is it's always making these unlikely pairings from one season to the next. We all, season to season, get thrown in with a new sparring partner. And I've actually had a new sparring partner this season because Margaery is in jail and Cersei, obviously, after the walk of shame got back into the Keep," she told TIME.
Speaking of Cersei's controversial walk of shame sequence, Dormer said that some people might question the show's cruel treatment of women, but she admires their bold storylines.
"It's brave writing. It's bold writing, whether you agree or disagree with the choices that are made. The redeeming feature you can credit it with is at least it's brave. And I think there's a lot of writing out there that plays it safe and doesn't challenge its audience," she said. "And audiences are more sophisticated than Hollywood gives them credit for. And that's one thing you have to give credit to 'Thrones,' they understand that their audience is sophisticated and can process contradictions and controversy."
Because of this, audiences have placed high expectations on creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. As much as she wants to know what will happen to the show next year, Dormer has kept herself out of the loop on purpose so she can still have that element of surprise.
"It's been fun to gossip and speculate in the makeup trailer," she said. "Quite a few of us-and I'm kind of proud of the fact that I was one of the ones who started doing this about two or three years ago - stopped reading other characters' storylines. We get all 10 scripts at the beginning of the season, but I chose not to read what wasn't Maergery or King's Landing storyline because that way I get to watch the show as it airs in real-time with the fans. I watched the first season as a fan before I was attached to it. So just like everybody else I was like, 'Woah what's this? They just killed the lead guy at the end of season one. How brave, how bold.'"
Dormer even added that the show might have veered away from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, but author George R.R. Martin is still very much involved in the show's plot.
"They're not completely absent of George's influence because George is a producer on the show, and they all had a pow-wow a couple of years ago," she shared. "They know where it's got to go and what George's intentions for the characters are. But they are just filling in the gaps."
