Game of Thrones: Natalie Dormer knew character was being killed off a year in advance

'I knew when my time was coming'

Natalie Dormer said she had known for a long time that her Game of Thrones character was going to die (PA Archive/PA Images)

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer has said she knew her character from the series was being killed off a year in advance.

The actress played Margaery Tyrell, who later became Queen when she married Cersei Lannister's youngest son, King Tommen.

Fans bemoaned the death of her character at the end of series six when she was killed in an explosion.

British born Dormer, 35, told The Jonathan Ross show she found out her character's fate when she asked the show's bosses for some time off to film a movie.

She said: "I sort of got ahead of the game because I was badgering the creatives a year before to release me for a couple of dates, you know how shooting schedules can be overlapping. I was trying to get a movie made, I was trying to get my movie that I made with my other half.

"At the time, they wouldn't release me from Game of Thrones. So Dan and David, the creatives of the show, said 'sorry Nat, we're not going to release you, you're going to have to shoot next year, but don't worry darling, we're killing you next year'.

"It wasn't that harsh, I'm paraphrasing, but they thought they were giving me good news.

"They were, it was bittersweet. I had the unique position over a lot of cast members, as in I knew when my time was coming...".

Dormer also starred alongside The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence in both parts 1 and 2 of the Mockingjay films, the final ones in the series.

Lawrence famously spoke out about the gender pay gap in Hollywood when she learned that she was earning significantly less than her male American Hustle co-stars: Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale.

Asked how she'd react if she discovered she was earning less than a male co-star, Dormer told Ross: "You know me Jonathan, I'm a candid person. If I see injustice, I speak up. I would like to think that if I did think something was amiss, I would speak up."

She added that she was not aware if she had ever been paid less than a male colleague to-date, saying "that's the problem, you don't know until it's drawn attention to".