With Game Of Thrones’ series finale edging ever closer, it seems everyone wants to know what’s going on – but Melisandre actress Carice Van Houten wants to be surprised.
Despite having the kind of access to the final scripts we can only dream of, the 42-year-old actress has admitted she wanted to keep it as much of a shock to her as the rest of us.
Confessing she doesn’t even know how many versions of the ending was shot in order to keep things a secret, she added to Sunday Times Culture: ‘In order not to spoil anything, I like to know as little as possible.
‘So I am gonna be pretty surprised myself, because I didn’t really read it all.’
Does this mean that she doesn’t even get to the final episodes to be able to keep it secret?
‘Nice try!’ she added. ‘I’m so good at deflecting that now. I can’t say anything about that.’
Over the course of the series, Melisandre has proven herself to be one mystery of a character, revealing herself to be in disguise as a younger woman and playing puppet master to the final Great War with the help of her powers.
The Red Woman, as she has become known in the Kingdoms, even brought Jon Snow back to life after he was betrayed by the Night’s Watch, and it’s only because of this he spared her life when he discovered the number of people she killed as a Baratheon advisor.
Playing such a complicated character has undoubtedly been fun for Carice, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t felt the effect of being a potential villain and hero of the piece.
‘I don’t mind playing unsympathetic characters, because they’re often very interesting. But I didn’t get a lot for free,’ she said. ‘She’s not someone you per se immediately embrace to your heart.
‘So I had to fight for her. But it was fun. I sort of enjoyed people hating me a little bit. I thought it was funny.’
You’ve got to hand it to her for her strength to not at least sneak a peek at what the fate of Westeros holds – especially as the trailer was so epic.
With even leading stars such as Kit Harington being kept in the dark until the final moment, what happens at the end is anyone’s guess at this point.
(Unless you’re engaged to one of the key players like Joe Jonas is, in which case you annoy your fiancé until you get the truth out of her.)
Game Of Thrones returns 15 April on HBO, Sky Atlantic and is available to watch on NOW TV.
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