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Carice Van Houten Wants to See More of Melisandre in the Game of Thrones Prequel

How old was the Red Priestess?

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Amanda Bell

There are very few characters fromGame of Thrones who could possibly be included in the upcoming prequel series, tentatively titled Blood Moon. The new show will take us back thousands of years into the past when the Age of Heroes descended into darkness, so in theory, characters like the Night King, Leaf and her family from the Children of the Forest, and maybe an earlier, pre-Bran version of the Three-Eyed Raven would be ageless enough to make the journey back that far.

Another possibility, though, is that Red Priestess might be part of the new series; her age was never fully revealed in Game of Thrones, but we did know that Melisandre lived long enough to turn to dust as soon as her work for R'hllor was done at the Battle of Winterfell. That red charm necklace did some work while we knew her, so who knows if she was 100 years old or besting Methuselah.

For her part, actress Carice Van Houten has now spoken up about the possibility that she might return for another round as the ruthless magician, and while she does think there's more story to tell when it comes to Melisandre, her name's not on the call sheet for the show just yet.

Everything We Know About the Game of Thrones Prequel So Far

"I guess you could see a very young Melisandre or something like that. That could be fun," she told Deadline of the spin-off. "But not in the shape of me. No one has contacted me about it. There are so many great characters, but I personally would have loved to see more of Melisandre's background."

That's not exactly a no, per se, but Van Houten also expressed some dissatisfaction with being typecast as the villainess after Game of Thrones, saying, "Sometimes I feel like that's the only frustrating part of having been in Game of Thrones: I'm very grateful for it but sometimes people only see that side of me. I feel like I should probably do a comedy to get me out of being associated only with the Red Woman."

Whether or not she'd have a change of heart if the opportunity to return to the role came along remains to be seen.

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​Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington, Game of Thrones

Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington, Game of Thrones