Though many were shocked to see Margaery Tyrell killed off in Game of Thrones last year, the actress in the role, Natalie Dormer, knew the scenes were coming for a full 12 months before they hit the small screen.

Speaking this weekend at London Film and Comic Con, the actress explained: “We all have to dedicate, like, six months of our lives to Game of Thrones every year. As actors we do get frustrated if we can’t do the other jobs we want to do in the other months of the year.

“So I phoned Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff] because there was a job I really wanted to do and they said ‘No, you can’t do it, we won’t release you from the schedule’ and I was really upset and they said, ‘But, don’t worry Natalie, we’re gonna kill you next year.’ So unlike a lot of cast I found out a year earlier than normal because it was meant to be like compensation: ‘You will soon be free so shut up and stop complaining.’”

Though the exchange sounds like it could have been a frosty one, we’re sure the behind-the-scenes antics and Dormer being a part of one of the world’s most successful shows more than made up for her commitments to HBO.

Now she’s set to star in a film she wrote herself, In Darkness. She explained: “It took about eight years to get it together – it’s hard to make an independent movie – and if I’d still been in Game of Thrones I wouldn’t have been able to make In Darkness.”

In Darkness will be released later this year. Game of Thrones continues Sundays in the US on HBO and Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV.