'Game of Thrones' Q. and A.: Birgitte Hjort Sorensen on Playing a Wildling Female parent

By Jeremy Egner
Birgitte Hjort Sorensen in "Game of Thrones." Helen Sloan/HBO

This mail contains spoilers related to Sunday'due south episode of "Game of Thrones."

Birgitte Hjort Sorensen made her debut on "Game of Thrones" on Sunday equally a warrior chieftain named Karsi, a character that was actually slightly less intimidating than Kommissar, the High german a capella glamazon she plays in "Pitch Perfect 2," currently in theaters.

Karsi was arguably the nearly sympathetic of a group of Wildling elders, which of form marked her for death. Non long after saying goodbye to her own children she bit information technology by getting nibbled on past a gang of inferior zombies. She was last seen resurrected on the shoreline, her ice-bluish eyes signaling her status equally a new recruit for the White Walkers' army.

With her twin stints on a hit movie and one of the biggest shows in the earth, the Danish actress, 33, is having one of those … what'south the word? "It does feel like a flake of a moment," she said Mon morning. "They both speak to such a huge audience."

Only Ms. Sorensen has long been familiar to fans of international political dramas as Katrine Fonsmark, the striving reporter on the Danish parliamentary thriller "Borgen." This summer she will brainstorm work on HBO'south buzzy 1970s rock scene series, produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger, where she will play an actress and Andy Warhol intimate.

Ms. Sorensen (as she notes in her Twitter bio, her starting time proper name is "pronounced Beer-gui-deh (ish)) called Mon to discuss shooting the big battle scene at Hardhome and Wildling gender politics. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Which is more than fiercely combative, zombie war or underground a capella contests?

(Laughs) The challenges the Wildlings are facing are on a slightly more than fatal calibration than in the a capella world. Simply with whatever character, what they're doing is ordinarily life-or-decease for them in some way. For Kommissar information technology is a matter of life or expiry that they win the world championships.

What did you lot know about "Game of Thrones" earlier you joined it?

I know Nikolaj Coster-Waldau so I knew it was huge. I had seen a couple episodes and tried to grab up. I'm constantly surprised near the enormous reaction I get about it from all over the earth. It seems like it should exist, and I might not have the right word here, quite a nerdy show, but it reaches so many people very broadly.

The battle sequence seemed really complicated, with lots of activeness, but also lots of C.1000.I. elements. What was it like to film?

There was quite a lot of fighting going on. Nosotros rehearsed it a lot to get the stunt choreography downward. Some of the shots would exist with stuntmen dressed in green, and so they could C.G.I. information technology later. Some of the shots would be with guys in costume. It felt for me like beingness a kid, because information technology's such a articulate black-and-white earth — I'm on this side, you're on that side and nosotros fight confronting each other. It was piece of cake to lose yourself in the fantasy world because the sets are so incredibly life-similar. And during all this fighting, Miguel Sapochnik, our director, was and then good at keeping us on the acting track. It was about protecting the family. Information technology was never just well-nigh killing off some guys.

Yes, your character had a strong maternal streak. In that location was a moment when she put her children on a gunkhole and said she'd be coming right backside them, which is almost never a good sign—

Not on "Game of Thrones."

And she watched them go for a long moment. Practice you think she knew she was going to die?

I remember she knew the chance of seeing her kids again was small. I don't remember she really knew exactly what was coming. But she knew there was a skillful chance she would never come across them again. You say "maternal" and certainly she was in that moment. But I was quite pleasantly surprised that this was a role where gender really didn't matter. I didn't feel I was "the woman chieftain." I felt like we were all on the same team together. That was a fun experience for me because it'south rare.

Are you enlightened of some of the word about gender politics and sexual violence that surrounds this bear witness?

You know there is a lot of nudity and a lot of pretty ambitious, not but violence, but sex. I knew it was part of this evidence and was relieved that I didn't have to deal with that in my part. Information technology was a overnice change. Whatsoever director or writer or creative person has the correct to do what they desire to do — liberty of expression is something I celebrate. If nothing else, information technology makes people discuss these things. I haven't thought of it as feminist or anti-feminist. Information technology'southward a very violent, brutal globe and with that comes a lot of mistreatment of both men and women.

Fifty-fifty though you lot got killed off, reports have suggested yous might be in the finale. Can you say what yous're doing?

I don't know. I've been told that no one knows what happens in the future on "Game of Thrones." To my knowledge, I've shot one episode. Then I'm as excited as anyone else to find out what happens.