Game of Thrones season 7 episode 3: Ellaria Sand actor confirms off-screen death

Indira Varma also discussed how character's tortured scene

Game of Thrones marches on, season seven’s third episode being remarkably good, featuring huge reunions, notable meetings, and some dramatic revelations.

** Spoilers for ‘The Queen’s Justice’ ahead **

During the episode, we saw Cersei enact her most terrifying torture method yet; locking up Ellaria and Tyene Sand, poisoning the daughter while her mother watches on.

In a post-episode discussion with Entertainment Weekly, Ellaria actor Indira Varma confirmed the character won’t be returning to the show.

“[Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] called me, but I kind of knew already,” she told the publication. “Obviously there’s lots of trimming going on. It’s all coming to a head and you have to get rid of less important characters that the audience hasn’t had the chance to invest in as much.

“So I was expecting it. I wasn’t heartbroken. And I was like, “As long as I die on screen…” and they were like “Yeah!” But of course I don’t die on screen. I stay alive, I’m just not going to reappear. I think it’s really clever.”

With Ellaria not returning, we presume she’s rotting away, Tyene poisoned body before her. “It’s really dark,” the actor continued. “What I love about this scene is you’re reading it and from one sentence to the next you don’t know what’s going to happen — how Cersei is going to treat her victim. I just thought the delivery of that information was so clever. Especially since the kiss comes before the information.”

The torture method, though, isn’t exactly unprecedented on Game of Thrones. The entire scene actually harkens back to one no yet shown on television but features in George RR Martin’s books.

Basically, the Mad King did something very similar with Ned Stark’s father and brother, which you can read about here.

The episode ‘The Queen’s Justice’ also saw two Targaryens meet and two Starks reunite. Read our review and recap here.

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