I know that the battle scenes, as well, are quite gory and quite strong. Battle was romantic, but it was far from being easy. It's nice, in both respects, to have that color and contrast.

If you steal other people's characters, it doesn't work with the context of the scripts and what is written, so I wanted to make her my own. I was petrified, in the beginning, because it's such an iconic character, especially being a young lady myself.

When you're acting, you're escaping and hiding behind something. It's cliched to say, but there's a safety there.

I have been working since I was 11 on everything including period dramas.

But, as an actress, you don't want to run into these scenes, willy-nilly. The couple that I did do were important for the character and essential to the plot, to show what was actually going on between each character. It is great to be able to have that, and to be able to say certain things and have certain passions.

I'm not interested in serial dating; I'd honestly rather be single.

The weather in California is so much hotter than it is in England that it's absolutely changed my style. I have many more dresses and shorts than I ever thought I would coming from U.K.! It's so much easier to dress femininely in a warm climate.