Game Of Thrones: Myrcella's Death Was Supposed To Be WAY More Graphic
As if the Lannisters didn't go through enough...
The end of Game Of Thrones' season 5 was a remarkably bloody affair, with Jon Snow, Meryn Trant, Stannis Baratheon and Myrcella Baratheon all killed off in a devastating finale. And according to one star, it was supposed to be even more bloody - at least in its original plans.
Myrcella's death was a genuinely harrowing part of the Lannister story, which rang true even despite the villainous family's evil machinations. She was poisoned on her way back to King's Landing, and died in her father/uncle's arms - proving that even the most innocent and pure of characters weren't safe from being killed off.
According to Nell Tiger Free – who played the character throughout season 5 and who appeared at MCM London recently, Myrcella was going to meet a more grisly end:
"I don’t know if I should say this, but originally what happened is they gave me those mashed up bananas with like blood- fake blood, and my brains were supposed to be all over the ship and stuff. I was so excited. I don’t like gore but, like, I knew they were just like bananas, so I was okay with it.”
In the end, the show went with a far more restrained death - even compared to her brother Joffrey's death by poisoning - bucking the trend of the rest of the show. The actor also explained why they went with that less gory death:
“They wanted Myrcella’s death to reflect her life, and wanted it to be sweet.”
Sweet death - only Game Of Thrones could establish such an idea. It's unlikely we'll see any more of those restrained deaths now that we're at the business end of the show, and it's probably best not to get too attached to anyone ahead of the return of season 7.
It's just safer that way.