Carice van Houten talks Melisandre shocker on 'Game of Thrones'

LOS ANGELES, April 25 (UPI) -- Carice van Houten was happy to finally reveal Melisandre's secret on Game of Thrones.

The 39-year-old Dutch actress discussed the Season 6 premiere shocker in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The episode exposed Melisandre as an old and possibly ancient woman who hides her true form by means of her "magic necklace."

"I don't think a lot of people will see that coming," Van Houten said. "It makes her immediately more vulnerable, but also more wise and even more mysterious. There's also a vulnerability in her age."

"[Her age was] why she was able to say, 'This is just a small war, it's all relative compared to the big war we're going to face,'" she said of Melisandre sacrificing Shireen in Season 5. "It makes everything even more meta. Definitely, that's where all that stuff comes from."

Van Houten estimated Melisandre's real age to be 200 to 300 years old in an interview with People magazine. The actress underwent six hours of makeup to achieve her ancient look and also used an 80-year-old body double.

"I really loved it," she said of the reveal. "Because it's so much background all of a sudden and for me personally, I feel much more comfortable playing anxiety and fear and doubt, longing and very emotional things, than to be so secure and strong all the time."

"It makes the character immediately more vulnerable and sad," she added. "To make an old woman look at herself in the mirror as a young woman and then as her true age, that's quite painful."

Van Houten thanked fans for their "lovely comments" after the Season 6 premiere aired Sunday. Game of Thrones co-stars Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and Maisie Williams and airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.