Game of Thrones: Gwendoline Christie on her fatal finale encounter 

Brienne did it again! Last year the nomadic ronin battled and (seemingly) killed The Hound. Now in the

season 5 finale, “Mother’s Mercy,” she most definitely took out a self-proclaimed king and all-around Worst Dad Ever Stannis Baratheon. We briefly spoke to actress Gwendoline Christie about her pivotal finale scene that finally gave Brienne a chance to use Oathkeeper to dish out some meaningful justice in Westeros.  

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’re just hell-bent on killing off characters that are still alive in George R.R. Martin’s books aren’t you?

I wish it were true, because then I might be in this until the very end!

What was your reaction when you saw this in the script?

[Christie makes screeching sound that’s impossible to replicate by text] I didn’t think it could get any better than last season. And then I got to the end and I’m like, “What happens next? What could possibly happen?” This season I had a story line I genuinely could never have imagined.

This season we see Brienne start to activate different parts of herself that she hasn’t had before. She starts to get a little bit more clever in the way she deals with people. The scene where they’re in the inn with the innkeeper and she asks have you lived here long and asks, “Do you know who lives in the castle?” She says, “I swore an oath to Catelyn Stark.” And through that gains information from him. This isn’t the Brienne in season 2, this is a person who’s looking at life and seeing the best routes to achieve what she wants.

What was she thinking when she abandons her watch for Sansa?

Brienne is depressed about the situation she’s in. She hasn’t been able to achieve what she’s wanted. Arya slipped through her fingers and she just went through the fight of her life. The notion of the oath comes up again and again and she remains resolute. A lot of her personal needs remain unacknowledged. She puts all of her life’s focus on the greater good. What occurs is something very interesting. There’s an exploration of this character as a person—she’s dedicated to the greater good, not acknowledging her personal wants and needs in favor of something better than her. [Going after Stannis is] the one moment she responds to her emotional world and her feelings. She’s overtaken by something that we haven’t seen before. She chooses

to stand vigilant and to go and seek Stannis. In the script it says, “a darkness comes over her,” in that way it does when you’re hell-bent on something.

I’ve never asked. I’ve never asked George. I’ve told him I’m prepared for my character’s eventual death.

So next season Brienne might just pop up and kill Daenerys and be like, “Dragons are dangerous!”

That wouldn’t happen! Because … it just wouldn’t. Because I happen to

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