Say goodbye to the Sand Snakes in GOT; we hardly got to know ye

Two Sand Snakes down. Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughs) left and Nymeria (jessica Henwick), were killed off in
Game of Thrones. Only Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers), center, remains.

IT WAS the best of times. It was the worst of times. (How's that for originality?)

Two of the unpopular Sand Snakes in Game of Thrones met their brutal ends in the second episode of Season 7.

The trio of deadly daughters called the Sand Snakes, a.k.a. the bastard daughters of Oberyn Martell, never really caught on with the audience. Their bad-ass and sexy attitudes couldn't overcome the general nastiness and mean-spiritness of Nymeria (Jessica Henwick), Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughes), and Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers) .

Henwick, part Chinese, and Castle-Hughs, part-Maori, two of the beautiful, but unlikeable trio died in an epic battle on the high seas in the fictional world of Game of Thrones created by George R.R. Martin. With their deaths, that leaves only the widow of Oberyn Martell, Ellaria, played by Indira Varma, (whose mother is Indian) left to represent the Asian and Pacific Island actors in one of the most popular TV series in the world.

Henwick, explains to Entertainment Weekly why her truncated role was difficult:

"They had to introduce three characters all at once and differentiate them. When you’re limited to an introduction of two lines per character and there are four characters in the scene—during our introduction scene in Season 5—it’s hard to create a lasting impression. You kind of have to shove a character down the audience’s throat and Game of Thrones’ success is in its multifaceted characters. At the time it was definitely frustrating feeling like there’s so much potential here, and a lot of the stuff that we shot didn’t make the final cut. It was hard."

Indeed, in the books, the Sand Snakes numbered seven (Oberyn fooled around a lot) and each of their characters were fully rounded out.

“It’s always fun playing Obara. It’s always fun and terrifying because she’s a psycho,” said Castle-Hughes reacting to Obara’s Season 7 fate. “So the thing is that I always get to do stuff that you never in your wildest dreams imagine with spears and fighting alongside my sisters. So there’s always an adrenaline rush.”

Getting Henwick back on the set of GOT was a feat in itself because, her Sand Snake role got her noticed by Hollywood and helped land her in what may be her "breakout" role in Netflix's series Iron Fist after an unremarkable few minutes in Star Wars: Rogue One.

Jessica Henwick's popular character in 'Iron Fist' is a bad-ass martial artist.

She had to shoot her fight scenes in a couple of weekends and over the Christmas break in order to fit it into the actress' now-busy schedule.

Henwick agrees that she and her sister Obara meet rather “brutal” ends. The sisters end the episode draped or strung up on the prow of a ship.

Their "mother" Ellaria and surviving sister were taken captive and it looks pretty grim for them in the show known for killing off major characters.

Henwick acknowledges she owes her rising star to her time on GOT. “Overall, given the size of the character, I’ve been very happy with how it’s come out. It is what it is. There’s nothing I can say, really.”

It's sad to see the two actresses leave the show but they don't have time to moan their characters' demise. 

Henwick will continue her Iron Fist character in the upcoming Defender series and Iron Fist got the approval for a second season and she has a thriller-type movie coming in 2018, Underwater, with Kristen Stewart.

Castle-Hugh's already has a project set to debut Aug. 1, Manhunt: Unabomber. The scripted miniseries is based on the true story of how the FBI caught terrorist Ted Kaczynski, who managed to send over a dozen bombs through the mail over two decades, killing three and injuring 23. Castle-Hughes plays FBI agent named Tabby who is based on several real women who worked in the San Francisco FBI office on the Unabomber case.