Game of Thrones star Indira Varma discusses Ellaria Sand’s dark fate

On the latest Game of Thrones, we said goodbye to several favorite characters. But you may not have realized one of them is gone for good.

Game of Thrones is pulling no punches in Season 7. We’re only three episodes in, but there have already been several long-awaited reunions, highly anticipated meetings, and shocking plot twists. “The Queen’s Justice” was no different. And it actually featured one of the series’ darkest moments to date. (And for a show like Game of Thrones, that’s definitely saying something!)

This week’s episode featured a particularly disturbing scene in which Cersei forced a bound and gagged Ellaria Sand to watch her own daughter be poisoned. (The queen kissed Tyene with laced lipstick, the same method the Dornish used to kill Lannister daughter Myrcella.) Cersei then verbally tortured Ellaria for a bit, before leaving her in a cell to watch Tyene die. (At an unspecified and presumably very slow time in the future.) Ellaria’s ultimate fate, however, remains up in the air. Technically. But if the actress who plays her is to be believed, it’s even worse than you think.

Acccording to Indira Varma, Ellaria Sand isn’t dead. But this is the last time we’ll see her on Game of Thrones. The audience will have to imagine her ultimate fate in Cersei’s prison. Because we won’t see it onscreen. Which somehow makes it even more horrifying. (After all, we know there’s a lot of pretty bad stuff going on in that Lannister jail. And clearly Cersei’s cruelty is legendary.)

Varma confirmed her exit to Entertainment Weekly, calling it “really clever.”

"[Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss] called me, but I kind of knew already. Obviously there’s lots of trimming going on. It’s all coming to a head and you have to get rid of less important characters that the audience hasn’t had the chance to invest in as much. So I was expecting it. I wasn’t heartbroken. And I was like, “As long as I die on screen…” and they were like “Yeah!” But of course I don’t die on screen. I stay alive, I’m just not going to reappear. I think it’s really clever."

Game of Thrones generally struggled to fully incorporate the story of Ellaria and her daughters the Sand Snakes into the show. And as the show hurtles toward its endgame, it’s important for it to streamline its story. But it’s still sad to see the clan of fierce Dornish women written out in such a chilling fashion.

Varma describes Ellaria’s fate as “every parent’s worst nightmare”:

"Ellaria hasn’t had quite the screen time so people are inevitably more invested in Cersei. But people were so in love with Oberyn [Pedro Pascal] and there’s a bit of that residue carrying on, and obviously, nobody wants to see somebody’s child killed in front of them — that’s every parent’s worst nightmare, beyond worst nightmare. It’s quite a challenge from an acting perspective to be interesting with no lines. It was fun trying to play anger resentment and impotence in that situation, but still wanting to fight. At what point do you give up wanting to fight? It’s a human paternal instinct where you just want to keep fighting for your child."

Of course, just because Varma won’t appear onscreen again doesn’t mean we’ve heard the last of Ellaria. Perhaps we’ll get a throwaway line about her death later in the series. Or we’ll see the entirety of King’s Landing blow up, and know her ultimate fate. Or maybe we won’t. Maybe this is just a different sort of reminder that horrible things happen in Westeros all the time. And no one is safe, no matter how righteous they may think their cause is.

Next: Game of Thrones season 7: 5 predictions for episode 4

Game of Thrones continues next Sunday night on HBO.