Myrcella Baratheon wasn’t the first non-book death on Game of Thrones, but it was definitely one of the most surprising— mainly because it wasn’t as gruesome as it is on the show. Turns out, that was on purpose, as the actor has unveiled how much worse her demise was supposed to be.
Myrcella, played by Nell Tiger Free, was killed in the season 5 finale “Mother’s Mercy,” poisoned by Ellaria Sand’s kiss as revenge against Cersei Lannister for the death of her lover, Oberyn Martell. The death came after Jaime Lannister revealed that Myrcella was his daughter, along with her sharing that she always knew and was totally cool with it.
Nell recently shared how the original plan for her character’s demise was way worse than what they later went with. She doesn’t say exactly how badly the poison was going to affect her, but it sounds like it was going to involve some fairly explosive brains!
“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,” Free said. “I was so excited. I don’t like gore but, like, I knew they were just like bananas, so I was okay with it.”
Free added that they later decided to change the scene “because they wanted Myrcella’s death to reflect her life, and wanted it to be sweet— which is rare for Thrones.”