With the deaths of her sisters Obara and Nymeria at Euron Greyjoy’s hand, and her capture during battle on last week’s episode of Game of Thrones, things were looking grim for Tyene Sand. Alas, she met her bitter end on Sunday night in one of the show’s most heartrending and well-acted scenes. Tyene didn’t get to go out fighting like her fellow Sand Snakes, but her final appearance had a tremendous impact and gave Rosabell Laurenti Sellers one last chance to shine.
Although Sellers hadn’t seen Game of Thrones prior to auditioning, she knew the show was a huge hit. Once she was cast, she quickly caught up to prepare for her role. Part of that preparation involved intense martial arts and combat training:
I flew out to Belfast a few times for training as well, and then just found somebody [to] follow me with the daggers. I learned the choreography late after I started training. So I had to really catch up on that, and it’s really hard. I’ve never done any fight scenes. I’ve never done stage combat. It’s so hard because you have to put all the intention into it, but then make it fake. It’s so much fun.
As the youngest Sand Snake, Sellers felt her character was always trying to “prove herself to her older sisters.” Tyene was incredibly loyal to her mother Ellaria, and she was a fierce fighter who also had “a seductive side to her…discovering her sexuality and discovering the effect that that could have on people.”
Tyene’s playful (and deadly) sexuality was on full display in season 5, when in episode 7 – “The Gift” – she taunts Bronn in his cell. After poisoning him with a slow acting agent (The Long Farewell, which would eventually be her own downfall), Tyene purposely arouses him to induce the poison to take effect. Sellers does a wonderful job at playing both the innocent and the seductress, and being able to catch Bronn off guard is an impressive feat!
Even more impressive was Sellers’ final performance. Tyene and Ellaria are given to Cersei as gifts from Euron in “The Queen’s Justice,” and Cersei certainly has a cruel fate in store. Mother and daughter are taken to a cell and chained opposite each other, while Cersei monologues about Myrcella’s murder and contemplates the best way to punish them for their crime.
Cersei finally reveals her grand plan – poisoning Tyene and forcing Ellaria to watch her slowly die and rot in front of her. All three women turn in outstanding performances here. Sellers is particularly good at conveying her fear and agony – as well as longing for comfort from her mother in her final moments – all while being bound and gagged. I suppose Ellaria and Tyene got what they deserved, but Sellers’ emotional portrayal and ability to generate sympathy for Tyene made it difficult to watch.
Sellers was born in California and spent much of her childhood in New York City, where she began acting at the age of eight. She moved to Rome shortly thereafter and has spent the majority of her career performing in Italian film and television. Game of Thrones gave Sellers her first big opportunity to be seen on the international stage, but hopefully it won’t be her last. Her next project is the upcoming film What About Love, starring Andy Garcia, Sharon Stone, and fellow Game of Thrones castmate Iain Glen. Sellers is a talented young actress, and I look forward to seeing more of her work in the years to come.
And now her bad pussy is ended.
Her scene with Bronn in the prison is one the shows most memorable.
Tyene was my favourite Snake.
Best wishes Rosabell!
Oh darn, I was still kinda hoping there was even a small chance she might be rescued, but with this curtain call in print… Bronn will be devastated. Farewell Rosabell. She was charming and sassy in the role of an independent Dorne princess. I have high hopes and the best wishes for a bright future for this young lady.
Great final scene. I liked Tyene’s scenes.
Loved her bad ass kill of Dorans body guard!!! Forgot his name
I am glad the show wont waste any more time showing us the progress of their deaths. Very good ending for them.
Good luck to her always.
Once again, you really have to admire the amount of hard preparation work that went into being a Sand Snake, which turned out on-screen to be a thankless task! The scene where Tyene and her mother are taunted by Cersei saw a great bow-out performance by Rosabell. I hope she goes on to many more properly appreciated roles in the future
I must say I much preferred her Season 7 look to earlier in the series, longer hair really brings out her beauty more – I could agree with Bronn!
Thronetender,
Those Curtain Calls aren’t official. Rory McCann (Hound) and Kit Harrington (Jon Snow) each got one when their characters “died.” And now they’re back.
Tyene Sand is definitely dead, though. There’s no one around to give her the antidote in time. Ellaria Sand *might* come back. It depends on how quickly Dany captures King’s Landing, and whether she thinks to look in the dungeons for Cersei’s prisoners. But TBH I kinda doubt Ellaria will return, myself. Her story is over.
I actually really liked her.
She was my favorite sand snake.
The best developed Sand Snake and she was the most similar to Oberyn.
She had two scenes where she really showed her talent. Her scene with Bronn and her death scene. Her acting there was really powerful.
And she had one of the most iconic lines in this show Lol
I can say she was the most developed among the Sand Snakes and also gave the best performance. Not to mention the actress is really beautiful. I think no person deserved such fate like Ellaria and Tyene.
My favorite sand snake, Rosabell performed wonderfully as Tyene, and she is absolutely gorgeous, I always wanted her and Bronn to hookup, oh well! Thank you Rosabell and good luck!
The sand snakes were extremely bad written, but all three actresses did their best. At least Tyene got a great dying scene, and she acted it impeccably (as did Indira Varma). This is a scene that I, as a mother of three daughters, will not easily forget.
Best of luck and success to this sweet and talented girl.
Thronetender,
My hopes for a Bronn rescue have been dashed as well. 😫😖. I really thought that Cersei’s choice of “The Long Farewell” meant there would be a window of opportunity for Bronn to forego the Lannisters’ promise of a highborn wife and a castle, and run off with his little Dornish girlfriend instead.
But I shouldn’t have to remind myself. This isn’t “Willow.” * This is Game of Thrones.
* Young Joanne Whalley as warrior-daughter of evil queen & Val Kilmer as rogue “sellsword” type adversary. Has sort of a Tyene-Bronn vibe to it.
Was that criticism deliberately ironic ?
I wish Rosabell good luck in all her future endeavors. Her role in GoT might have been small but, as mau said, she had one of the most iconic lines in the show.
WorfWWorfington,
Well, according to the article she’s going to be in a movie with Jorah. (I’m sure you could write a snappy scene for them. 😎)
PS Is your user name based on the Klingon in ST:TNG? If Worf Worfington is your real name, I apologize.
Did well with what was wanted with her, don’t pin the whole “bad pussy” thing on her
Indeed I actually found it rather odd they were playing her as girly and still rather quite adolescent and even a half child compared to her half sisters but then make her the sexual one as well whereas perhaps that may have been better to have articulated from Nym if Obara is going to be the Warrior
The final dungeon scene was fantastically acted by all and will probably be one of the most famous scenes of the show. Is strong emotionally but thematically also quite strong because it shows where the never-ending cycle of revenge and counter-revenge ends up
Eg Oberyn wants revenge for Elia, loses the opportunity for a long and happy life with Ellaria and his daughters, Ellaria then wants revenge for Oberyns life and loses the opportunity for a long and happy life with her daughter/s etc and Cersei’s “everyone who isn’t us is an enemy” mentality has led to all of her children winding up dead
Probably the thing that got me the most of the scene isn’t just the prospect of Ellaria having to watch Tyene rot, but it’s the fact the chains were deliberately made too short for Ellaria and Tyene to be able to hold eachother in the final moments
Ghost Lunch,
This was definitely a deliberate parallel to Rickard and Brandon’s death at the hands of the mad king.
Further emphasized by Cersei being sexually aroused by it, just like Aerys.
Good luck to Rosabell in the future
Ah some good points
Hadn’t thought about that, but makes sense of course as Jon mentioned it earlier in the episode when talking to Dany, though he said both were burned when only Lord Rickard was burned while heir Brandon was strangled with some exquisite device
Though not sure how long Ellaria’s ordeal really is, even if we don’t see her in the show if KL gets blown up by Dragons or White Walkers or comets or whatever in the not too distant future
Seriously though, to be a fly on the wall if Jaimie ever took a tour of the Red Keep dungeons
Looked totally different with her hair grown out. I was smitten.
Good bye, Tyene. You were my favourite Sand anale. I loved the prison scene.
She did nail her last scene as Tyene, that I cannot deny.
Also I wasn’t ruling out a Bronn-sourced rescue, which is now pretty unlikely.
I did like her least of the Sand Snakes, but again, apparently that was not by Rosabell’s doing but by the material she was given.
Good luck in the future!
Ghost Lunch,
I was a little surprised at that mistake in the writing of Jon’s dialogue.
Especially since D&D filmed the death scene of Rickard and Brandon for the un-aired pilot
She was a superb actress; she was the most memorable of the Sand Snakes, and that final scene – oh my that was so heartbreaking (and yeah about the chains, just short enough that they had no comfort) Looking forward to seeing her with Ian in their new movie!
Just a reminder that Curtain Calls need to stay respectful and on-topic!
Unlike the other two Sand Snake actresses I hadn’t seen Rosabell in anything other than GoT. She did well in her last scene and I can think of a lot worse people to act with than Iain Glenn (in her forthcoming project).
Tyene was my favorite Sandsnake also. BTW, I preferred Rosabell with the shorter hair she had in S5/6. She looked cute – more tomboy’ish 😉
I can understand Cersei’s vengeance and taking her life using poison just as Ellaria did to her daughter Myrcella. I guess one could say that was ‘poetic justice’ but at least her death would have been quick and not like Ellaria who Cersei intends to keep alive to see her daughter decompose and turn to dust and bones in front of her… That’s really grim!
Whether there will be any reaction from Bronn (if he ever gets back to KL) I cannot say. No more ‘Bad Pussy’ for him that’s for sure 😉
Best of luck to Rosabell in her future roles…
Like most others, I wish the Sand Snakes had been better written, but they all went out with a bang and Rosabell especially got a chance to shine in her death scene. And she did.
I’m still holding out hope that Ellaria will be rescued but I’ll save that topic for a different post.
Best of luck to Rosabell in the future. I wouldn’t hate if she turned up as an ass kicking protagonist in a good horror movie or post apocalyptic action thriller.
Sue the Fury,
Everything seems to be pretty respectful and on topic to me… I can’t find any examples of that not being the case.
Anyone catch the foreshadowing/callback to her last conversation with her sisters? They were mocking her about her childlike connection to “Mama”, and it ended up being her last word as she reverted back to that childlike fear at the end.
I’m very happy that we had an additional week to prepare for Rosabell Laurenti Sellers’s Curtain Call, because she deserves her own spotlight, and due respect. When we were paying tribute to Jessica Henwick and Keisha Castle-Hughes last week, I waxed on at length about how talented I thought both women were, and how happy I was that they both got to be part of this show that we all love so dearly.
I meant every word, and that sentiment holds true for Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as well. But in her case, I have one additional plaudit to offer – with respect to the roles of the Sand Snakes themselves and what the three actresses playing Oberyn’s daughters did with those roles, Rosabell gave my favorite performance of the three.
It’s a common criticism that the Sand Snakes weren’t distinctive enough in their personalities, but in this case, I would push back on it. I actually felt that Rosabell did effectively distinguish Tyene Sand from her sisters. She was the youngest of the Sand Snakes that we got to know, and that element always shone through in their interactions. As the youngest, Tyene was always striving to prove herself to her older, more experienced siblings. More often than not, she did. What’s more, the fact that she was Ellaria’s biological daughter (a change that I thought was both important and necessary) was a crucial dynamic that was present from her very first scene. I thought that the deep mother-daughter bond that Ellaria and Tyene shared was well-established, beautifully conveyed by both Rosabell and Indira Varma, and at times, quite touching – especially at the end. More on this later.
I legitimately like the scene with her and Bronn in the jail cell, where she’s flirting with and torturing the old sellsword in equal measure. I know that some focus on the nudity, for good or ill, but I flat-out reject the idea that it’s just there for titillation – it’s an important part of why the sequence is effective. More than any other scene in the show, this is the one I feel most clearly and effectively demonstrates the ideal of why the Sand Snakes can be dangerous. Under the right circumstances, there’s a specific combination of seductiveness, playfulness, deviousness, and ruthlessness that they can unleash upon the men who underestimate them, and Rosabell brought all of the elements to play in her performance.
I particularly love the moment when Bronn’s vision starts to blur and he realizes that he’s been poisoned. In that moment, Rosabell – with her face still pressed up against the bars – offers up this very small, easy-to-miss almost reptilian head tilt – very much like a snake contemplating its prey before she strikes the killing blow. She’s in her element here, and she’s calculating in her cruelty. Tyene knows that she needs to get Bronn’s heart rate up for the Long Farewell to work faster, and so she confidently uses her beauty and her comfortable, easy sexuality to achieve that end. And it works. Ultimately, she shows him mercy, but even then she makes it clear that she is the one who’s in control. She’s vicious when she needs to be, but she’s also very willing and capable of enjoying herself as she does.
In other words, Tyene is her father’s daughter indeed. Her mother’s as well!
The continued unfolding of the narrative has definitively proven that, both then and now, that scene held and continues to hold significant narrative importance. Not only did that it serve as crucial foreshadowing and setup for Myrcella’s assassination (which, for me, is still and will always be one of the most heartbreaking deaths on the show), but, as we now know, it served to foreshadow Tyene’s own death as well.
And her death scene was superb. Much love has been deservingly showered on Indira Varma for her performance in this scene, but I give Rosabell Laurenti Sellers her full due here as well. She had only a single line of dialogue, but she was acting her heart out the entire time. You could tell that Tyene was trying to stay strong and ward off her fear, but the moment that Cersei delivered the poison that will ultimately kill her, she broke down and regressed to a child reaching out for her mother … only her mother can’t help her, and she knows it. It was heartbreaking. That image of the two women chained to opposite walls, crying, futilely straining to embrace on another – an embrace that they will never share again – is one that will stick with me for a long time to come.
In conclusion, I’ll reiterate once again how much I love that Jessica, Keisha, and Rosabell appeared to forge a genuine, sister-like bond during their time filming on the show. I wish Rosabell Laurenti Sellers nothing but the best in her future endeavours. I’m sure that she has a long career ahead of her, and I’ll always look back at her time on Game of Thrones fondly.
Jared,
My father always taught me that everything before the word “but” is bullshit.
Ha!, j/k, just couldn’t resist using that line!
Well said and I agree with you
Mr Derp,
Fair. 😉 I’m going to be forever paranoid about using that word in Game of Thrones-related conversations now!
Jared,
I’ve been feeling that way too. I find myself trying too hard to eliminate the word “but” from my GoT vocabulary. Now “butt” on the other hand…
John,
Because I deleted the posts that were the case.
I didn’t have the same hatred of the Sand Snakes that many people did, but I was still surprised to find myself a little upset when Obara and Nymeria died.
Tyene, on the other hand… She was the one SS I actually liked. I actually enjoyed her relationship with Bronn (that ONE line, notwithstanding), and I thought that jail scene where she was poisoning him was well done.
Like the other two, Rosabell did the best she could with what she was given… which, IMO was better than what the other two were given. So, to me she definitely stood out the most of the 3 Sand Snakes.
I actually teared up a little when Cersei kissed Tyene, even though admittedly, she was far from innocent. Rosabell’s acting in that scene really made me sympathize with her, seeing the sheer terror in her face and voice when she realized what was going to happen.
Like Keisha and Jessica, Rosabell always seemed like such a warm, lovely person, and I really enjoyed the friendship the 3 of them shared behind the scenes.
RIP, Tyene. And best of luck, Rosabell. I hope to see you in more in the future.
Bye Tyene. So glad they let her grow out her hair – yes it’s superficial, but she is stunning with longer hair.
At just 21, she has a lot of potential and a long career ahead of her!
I was never a fan of the Sand Snakes or Ellaria, but this final scene was wonderfully done by all three of the women. Farewell Tyene.
I also wonder if this cruel fate will be a turning point for Bronn. I’ve always wanted to see him back with Tyrion. For all that Bronn is a tough guy, he was sweet on Tyene and I can’t imagine he’ll be happy to hear this news.
I refuse to believe Tyene is gone. Rosabell has said nothing about leaving the show. Dorne has no one left to lead them. And goddammit, I love her. I’m fully prepared for the fact that we may never see her again, but until we get OFFICIAL confirmation, Tyene Sand is still alive.
She was my favorite Sand Snake.
Her acting wasn’t bad per se. 🙂
Tyene was my favorite Sand Snakes in the show (Nym in the book). Bad dialog (or maybe line delivery?) plagued their run as SS. So when Rosabell and Indira have to act with a mouthgag, it’s showcase their acting ability (espicially Rosabell).
I wish, if there is a chance, we could learn D&D original plan for SS in S6.
Alas, I hope Ms. Laurenti a very good luck for her next project!
Well done, Rosabell!! Best of luck in the future!
Rosabell showed us what a large acting pallet she has.
Sassy, flirty, pitiless, ruthless yet so touching.
Her final scene really moved me, I wish her all the best !
Ser Not Appearing in this Series,
You are spot on, she looked incredible this season. I didn’t like her S5 work (or any of the sandsnakes) to be honest but she absolutely nailed it this season.