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Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Cures is out on DVD and Blu-ray. In the film, aspiring knight Gareth (Julian Morris) goes in search of a fallen comet rumored to contain gold. Instead, he finds the dragon Drago (voiced by Ben Kingsley). He’s joined by the warrior Rhonu played by Tamzin Merchant (Salem, The Tudors). We got a chance to chat with Merchant about her role, how she’s always wanted a dragon friend, what’s coming in Season 2 of Salem and more. Check it out below!

Legion of Leia: Were you a fan of the original films?

Tamzin Merchant: I loved the original film. Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery are such a dynamic Dragon-y duo. It’s fantasy and it’s funny, which is a killer combination. I grew up in Dubai so I would watch films about Olde England and I’d be like “I want to live in England and have a dragon for a friend.”

Legion of Leia: Give us a look at your character and what we’ll see in the prequel.

Tamzin Merchant: Let’s put it this way. Rhonu doesn’t sit back and wait for anyone to save her. Or fight her battles for her. She’s right in the thick of the action. She’s probably thinking, “Why is Lorne wearing a dress, that’s a hindrance.” In this movie you’ve again got the great buddy-comedy vibe, this time between Julian Morris and Ben Kingsley (Drago) and you’ve got really fun fight scenes, magic, Druids, sexual tension, Scottish Accents, amazing landscapes…

Legion of Leia: Fans have been waiting for the prequel for years. When did you get involved with the project?

Tamzin Merchant: I think I was one of the first actors to hop on the dragon. So to speak. It was something I couldn’t let slip past me. I had to do it!

Legion of Leia: What was it like working with Colin Teague? He’s directed a ton of genre television, including Torchwood, Doctor Who and Being Human. Are you a genre fan?

Tamzin Merchant: Working with Colin was a real treat. He’s passionate, clever and focused. Nothing gets past him (except once, an entire herd of cows literally got past him as we were about to shoot and we had to wait while the cowherds slowly shuffled them past. You can’t rush a herd of cows, even when the sun is going down and Colin wants his shot) but that’s what you want from a director: passion and very high standards. And a profound understanding of the universe that the story takes place in. Colin is fantastic.

I’m actually not a genre fan, really. I’m getting into Alan Moore (thanks to Jake Curran, who plays Traevor in Dragonheart) but I haven’t been into high fantasy since Harry Potter and Narnia. Those are my only two. And Lord of the Rings, of course. But that’s not fantasy, that happened.

Legion of Leia: What can we expect on Season 2 of Salem?

Tamzin Merchant: I’m so glad you asked about Salem! We’re filming it right now and it is so much fun. I think fans will be blown away by this season. My character, Anne, is really coming into her own this year. We’re only on Episode 5 (not even halfway through the season) but it’s getting more twisted and bombastic than ever… I cannot wait for people to start seeing it. Basically, from Season 2 of Salem, you can expect things you can’t even imagine…

Fun fact: I’d always wanted a reason to dye my hair red because my great childhood literary heroine, Anne of Green Gables, was a redhead. So when Raffaella said she wanted me to dye my hair red to play Rhonu I was delighted… and while I was in Romania shooting Dragonheart, I put myself on tape for the role of Anne in Salem. The producers of Salem cast me and when I got to America to film the pilot of Salem I hadn’t dyed my hair back to blonde yet because I hadn’t had time… and the producers liked my hair color so much that they decided to make Anne a redhead.

Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.

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Jenna Busch

Jenna Busch is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Legion of Leia and has hosted and written for sites like Nerdist, ComingSoon.net, Metro, Birth. Movies. Death., IGN, AOL, Huffington Post and more. She co-hosted Cocktails With Stan with the legendary Stan Lee and has appeared on Attack of the Show, Fresh Ink, Tabletop with Wil Wheaton, in the documentary She Makes Comics, on NPR and Al Jazeera America, and has covered film/TV/gaming/comics for years. She's currently a co-host on Most Craved. She's been published in the comics anthology Womanthology, is a chapter author for Star Wars Psychology: Dark Side of the Mind, Game of Thrones Psychology and Star Trek Psychology and more, and owns a terrifying amount of swords and 20-sided dice. There are also those My Little Pony trailer voice overs that give one nightmares.