Carice van Houten on Melisandre's Secret in Season 6 Premiere

The season premiere of Game of Thrones Season 6 ended memorably with a scene of Melisandre (played by Carice van Houten) revealing her true secret that she's been hiding for 5 seasons.

In the melancholic scene, we see Melisandre fully disrobe and take off her magical jeweled necklace to reveal her true self: an old woman. It looks like the necklace that we've seen her wear for seasons is enchanted to give her a youthful appearance and conceal her old age.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Carice talked about that big reveal. "I was really happy when I read that we were going to reveal that this year," Houten said. "I don't think a lot of people will see that coming. It makes her immediately more vulnerable, but also more wise and even more mysterious. There's also a vulnerability in her age."

"That's why she was able to say, ‘This is just a small war, it's all relative compared to the big war were going to face,'" van Houten added. "[Her age] makes everything even more meta. Definitely, that's where all that stuff comes from."

Now, I'm wondering what Melisandre will do during the rest of this season. It seems that she will play an important role in helping Davos and company on protecting Jon Snow's corpse. Davos actor Liam Cunningham also recently talked about that mind-blowing scene.

Game of Thrones airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. Find out how you can legally watch Game of Thrones for free here.