This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 7, episode 3, "The Queen's Justice."
Game of Thrones is known for being ruthless with its characters and Season 7 has already seen several fan favorites meet their doom. This season's third episode, "The Queen's Justice," was particularly brutal, with the loss of Olenna Tyrell, as well as Ellaria and Tyene Sand.
Although all three deaths (/impending death following years of torture) took place offscreen, the actress who plays Ellaria (ironically, the one character who is certainly still alive—and will be for years if Cersei has her way), promises that even though her character's demise wasn't seen on screen, fans shouldn't expect her return.
"[Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] called me, but I kind of knew already," she told Entertainment Weekly (opens in new tab) of learning her character's fate. "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."
Ellaria doesn't die on screen, as fans know. Instead of killing her, Cersei forced her to witness her daughter's death (Cersei poisoned Tyene exactly as Ellaria poisoned Cersei's daughter, Myrcella), and then sentenced her to live out her days in a cell, watching the body decompose. Of all the dark, dark fates Game of Thrones characters have suffered, Ellaria's is almost certainly the darkest.
Now, we're still waiting for confirmation that Lady Tyrell is really, truly gone (because, TBH, we have to hold out hope that she had the antidote to that poison hidden somewhere close by).
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