Natalie Dormer opens up about what it was like playing Margaery Tyrell; Credits: Making Game of Thrones

Working in Game of Thrones was a dream come true for many actors, and Natalie Dormer is one of them. An ardent fan of the series and one of its most critically acclaimed actors and characters, Natalie Dormer, got to stay on the sets for five years solid. Her powerful, bold, opinionated, and headstrong character soon found an everlasting place in the hearts of countless fans, and while Margery Tyrell did die a horrible end, the lineage of her character continued to haunt the story of Game of Thrones. 

Not many actors take the death of their beloved characters just fine, but Natalie Dormer seems quite fine with her character's timeline on the show. She even called her time abroad on the sets of GoT 'the perfect length of time' and continued to say that it was as much fun as watching the TV series from her couch as it was to perform on the sets with all her regal glory. 

Talking with Variety about her time over at shooting and her eventual on-screen death, Natalie Dormer shared, “I got the golden ticket, the perfect length of time.” She revealed, “I watched Season 1 as a fan, came in the second season, did a good solid five years just as the show had this incredible explosion, and then I got out in time to watch the end and sit on the couch again.”

 The actress now stars in the hit show "Penny Dreadful: City of Angels." Her demoness character Magda has the ability of shapeshifting, which she calls upon to become any one of her three distinctively human versions. While the actress has to deal with a lot as she juggles between her four characters over the show, yet she is quite happy with her work in the series and also with the show in general.  

Talking with HBO about her vision for Season 6 and how it affected her seeing her imminent end on the series, Dormer shared that she has no hard feelings and still continues to enjoy the show as any other audience member would do. She said, "I read the King’s Landing scenes, so I know what’s going on in the capital, but I purposely chose not to read other storylines. I watched Season 1 as a fan, and in the last few years, I’ve really tried to go back to that feeling – on Sunday night, I have the most amazing experience like every other audience member." 

She said that she is delighted to see Jon Snow get the plot arc he deserved and said that she had guessed his maternity all along. The actress said, "I’m just so relieved that we finally got Jon Snow’s maternity out because I’ve had that theory for a long time."

The actress also said that Sophie Turner's character, Sansa Stark's character development is a great thing to watch. She continued,  "Sophie and I were close for a number of years, and I love watching her complex, dramatic growth as Sansa becomes this woman who can play the game herself." 

Further, the actress talked about what it was like to play the character of the self-assured Margaery Tyrell as long as it lasted. The Hunger Games actress said, "Trying to play a character so finely-nuanced that people believe you can be a good person who is also politically savvy. It’s easier to play a nihilistic person or a baddie; you have to get your hands dirty and have real talent, as Jack Gleeson proved, but it’s a simpler task to play a straight psychopath."

Sharing her vision for Margaery Tyrell, she revealed, "The thing I wanted to communicate with Margaery is that good people can, hopefully, be in positions of power. I think that’s quite pertinent. I’ve tried to make her a plausibly real, sensitive, good human being with the skills of a good leader."

Still, Margaery was not exactly a goody-two-shoes always bowing and scraping to people. Her famous dialogue to Tommen, “I’ve had lots of time to think about how good I was at seeming good,” shows that her character was much more than many fans first sought to believe. Discussing the famous dialogue with HBO, she said, "I think she’s articulating out loud something she’s always known about herself. If any of us were forced to sit in a dark cell on our own, we would do some soul searching. But I’ve always held firm that Margaery’s heart is true – I don’t think she has a dark spirit. She’s giving a narrative to Tommen that helps convert him at that moment."

While many have a bone to grind with the creators for the way they decided to end the final season of the show, Game of Thrones, yet Natalie Dormer is totally at peace with how her story turned out. Appreciating the series creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff, Dormer said, "I give Dan and David a lot of credit for the choices they made. They had to tie a lot of things up and move the whole King’s Landing story forward, and obviously, the whole religious coup was such a complex thing to grapple with." 

Talking about her fiery end, she said, "I loved that Margaery’s demise was not at Cersei’s hand, but at the hand of someone else underestimating Cersei when Margaery wasn’t in a position to wield the power herself. That feels right because Margaery’s done such a good job over the years of keeping up with Cersei. They’re pretty well-balanced."

Then the actress proceeded to share more about her final days on the set of Game of Thrones. She revealed, "My actual last day was with Diana Rigg, where I hand her the bit of paper with the rose drawing. It was very fitting: the actor hugging the actor goodbye, and the character hugging the character. Dan and David were both there in order to give me the proper send-off. It was an emotional day."

Natalie Dormer revealed that she is good friends with Sophie Turner; Credits: The Verge

The actress was also presented with a souvenir from her time abroad the sets, as she recalled, "They gave me Margaery’s wedding crown with the roses interwoven around the Baratheon antlers which sits on my bookshelf and will be loved from now until the rest of my days."