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The star, who plays feisty warrior Brienne of Tarth in the HBO fantasy series, explained that she was drawn to the show because women were no longer forced to take supporting parts and had fully fleshed-out roles.

Speaking in a special on the PEOPLE/Entertainment Weekly Network, Christie said: "This was a television show that would put women at the forefront.

"We were going to explore female characters in a way that conventionally doesn't happen.

"They wouldn't simply exist as the mother role, the girlfriend role, the wife role, or the sister. They would be people in their own right."