Game of Thrones season 6, episode 10: Lena Headey on finale twists, 'This is the tame version'

'I couldn’t believe it, obviously. I was really shocked. I read it like nine times, like, 'You’re joking!''

*WARNING* MAJOR SPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6, EPISODE 10*

The Iron Throne has a new occupier, thanks to season 6's rather explosive finale. Cersei Lannister harnessed the powers of wildfire, destroyed her opponents, claimed rule of Westeros; all in a move which puts her in a position of such brutal power that it drives fear even into the heart of Jaime himself.

There's no turning back from this point, and it's a strike which didn't come without its costs; when her only surviving child Tommen killed himself after realising his wife Margaery had become one of Cersei's casualties. And with that death, dies one of the last humanising pangs of Cersei's character.

"There’s that moment where she goes to see dead Tommen and she thinks, 'Ah. Well. I’ll [take the crown].' It’s so wrong," Lena Headey told Entertainment Weekly.

Indeed, Cersei's revenge was one both utterly depraved and utterly triumphant in its brutality; none more so than her treatment of Septa Unella AKA the "Shame!" Nun, now left at the torturous hands of the Mountain.

"Everyone is going to be aghast and thrilled and annoyed they’re on Cersei’s side for a minute," Headey said. "I don’t think people will be able to help going, 'Yes!' But it’s so depraved, it’s brilliant. The scene was meant to be worse, but they couldn’t do it. This is like the tame version. It’s pretty bad still, though. I’d take being exploded in the Sept over that any day."

And, for now, Cersei reigns. But for how long? "I couldn’t believe it, obviously. I was really shocked," Headey enthused. "I read it like nine times, like, 'You’re joking!' Then I’m left to wonder who’s going to take her down. She may only be there for a second. You do think, 'What the f*ck comes next?'"

"Then we start again to play that game we all play each season, 'Who’s going to be on the Iron Throne next?'", as she believes Cersei's power grab certainly won't be long lasting. "Not a chance in hell. It’s a moment of punctuation in the madness."

But who will mark the end of Cersei's life? "I think it has to be Arya or Tyrion," Headey stated. "No one would relish her death as much as [Tyrion] would."

We can look forward to the return of Game of Thrones when season 7 premieres in 2017.