Carice van Houten “really happy” with her Game of Thrones ending,

Melisandre only showed up for one episode of the final season of Game of Thrones, helping the living fight the army of the dead at Winterfell and pointing Arya Stark towards her destiny as the woman to kill the Night King. At the end of the episode, she took off her age-defying necklace, walked into the snowy dawn, and died.

It was a brief but memorable appearance. Speaking to Deadline, actor Carice van Houten said she was “really happy” with the way her character went out. “It was graceful. I was very grateful to the writers for that. That whole episode was bombastic but my death was like the final note of a symphony.”

I 100% agree. However, for van Houten, her death scene meant the end of her time on Game of Thrones, something she’s still getting used to. Around now is the time that she would be reading scripts for the new season and getting back in touch with cast members, but no more. “I do feel a certain emptiness but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Instead, she’s looking back on seven seasons of playing the Red Woman, one of the most enigmatic characters on the show. “Melisandre was an out of character role for me,” she said. “I had never played anything like that before. In Holland, I had done a lot of dramedy so I couldn’t believe people could see me as her. It was a challenge to trigger that in myself.”

"The thing I’m most happy about is that the show inspired people and brought people together. It’s the best thing that could have happened. I hope we get something like it in future, especially in this world where everyone is increasingly connected but individual…"

We’ll watch out for a show like that. Lord knows enough networks and streaming services are trying.

Naturally, van Houten had many memorable experiences filming Game of Thrones, giving birth to a shadow baby or turning into a crazy old woman, “whether it was giving birth to a shadow baby or turning into a crazy old woman.” But Melisandre’s key scene may always be the burning of Shireen Baratheon. “I wasn’t a mother back then,” van Houten remembered. “I think I would have found it more troubling now. Of course it’s fiction, but that was raw and gruesome. I remember first reading it and thinking ‘are we actually going to do this scene?’ The day itself was actually a fun day, despite it being freezing. The actress who played Shireen was good fun. I won’t easily forget that day.”

Nor will I. Honestly, I think it’s the most upsetting scene in the show, moreso than the Red Wedding. Glad to hear that it was fun on set, at least.

More recently, fans have been upset over the ending to the show. There’s been a lot of backlash to the final three episodes. Melisandre died before it really set in, but van Houten has certainly heard about it. Can she understand what has gotten fans so riled?

"I could in a way but I also felt it was bound to happen after eight years of expectation. Everyone has their own theories and wishes. It’s hard to do it ‘right’, to wrap it up in a bow. Everyone has a right to their opinion but it didn’t bother me. I loved it when the dragon Drogon destroyed the throne, for example. Those moments were amazing. The fact there’s discussion about it is a good sign, though."

But it’s onwards and upwards. In addition to roles in shows like Temple and movies like I Am Not a Bird, van Houten is eager to start producing in the future. Unfortunately she hasn’t been offered superhero roles as of yet, which are currently all the rage in Hollywood. Sometimes I feel like that’s the only frustrating part of having been in Game Of Thrones: I’m very grateful for it but sometimes people only see that side of me,” she said. “I feel like I should probably do a comedy to get me out of being associated only with the Red Woman.”

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Another option: she could double down and play Melisandre in HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel. Melisandre is a lot older than she looks, after all, although given that the prequel is set thousands of years before the mainline show it still seems like a stretch to have her around.

"I guess you could see a very young Melisandre or something like that. That could be fun. But not in the shape of me. No one has contacted me about it. There are so many great characters but I personally would have loved to see more of Melisandre’s background."

To some extent, I think Melisandre is destined to always remain a mystery. Kudos to van Houten for pulling that off.

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