Natalie Dormer would have regretted it immensely had she passed up on the role of Margaery Tyrell in the HBO series "Game of Thrones," but this is what she almost did when Dan Weiss and David Benioff first offered it to her.
"I contemplated not taking the role of Margaery Tyrell because I thought it was too close to what happened to Anne (Boleyn in 'The Tudors')," Dormer told Den of Geek. "So I spoke to David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] about it, and I said, 'I love the show, I've watched the first season as a fan, and I'd love to be in the show with you, but I'm scared that on the page, the events that happen to Margaery are too close to Anne Boleyn. And I don't want to play the same character twice. And Dan and David were like, 'Nat, we trust you. You're a talented actor,' bless them for saying. 'Don't worry about it, that's not going to happen. Your characterization will be different, we trust you.'"
Dormer's concerns are not unfounded. Boleyn is the mother of Queen Elizabeth and the second wife of the womanizing King Henry VIII of England. After she failed to give him sons, Henry decided that he was better off without her and had her beheaded so he can marry another. Throughout the last moments of her life, Boleyn plotted to keep her crown and her husband, but she failed miserably.
Margaery might not have a beheading just like Boleyn did, but she is still nonetheless caught up in royal intrigue and deception. The last she was heard of, her mother-in-law Cersei Lannister conspired to have her sent to jail.
Dormer said that she was glad she was listened to the showrunners despite her initial concerns.
"In the end, they were right," Dormer said. "[Margaery and Anne] did turn out to be two totally different women. They want to be queen for different reasons and also, their demise of being thrown into a jail cell has definitely been played very differently. So, I think I had real trepidation and concern about doing that... [but] I think, if I believe what fans have told me in hindsight, they were right. They read as different people completely."
In a different interview, Dormer teased that her character will have a different sparring partner in season six so her grievances with Cersei might take a backseat for now.
