In a new interview, Carice van Houten previews her role on Game of Thrones as Melisandre and discusses her character’s relationships with Davos Seaworth and Stannis Baratheon. Beware of spoilers.

Speaking to Access Hollywood, Carice describes her character as:

A priestess who comes to preach her religion, her faith, and [she’s] telling everybody that there’s only one god and it’s the God of Light, the Lord of Light. In that area that they’re going to, they believe that there’s seven gods, so she’s basically a newcomer. Maybe she has a more modern look on it all, but at the same time, she’s very manipulative. She is the right hand of one of the people that could become king [Stannis] and she’s basically manipulating him… She’s very influential and she’s the opposite of Liam [Cunningham’s character Davos Seaworth]. Liam is the left hand.

She also reveals something you may not be aware of, even if you’ve read the books (this writer wasn’t, anyway):

I don’t how old she is, but she’s way over 100 years, so she is a wiser spirit, in a way, but it’s difficult for me to say too much because A — we want it to at least stay sort of a mystery and B — I didn’t read the books (laughs).

Read the rest of the interview at Access Hollywood.