2018 Emmy nominee Nikolaj Coster-Waldau discusses Jaime Lannister’s journey

The final season of Game of Thrones was confirmed to air in the first half of 2019. With its brilliant storyline, action sequence, and a large fan-base, Game of Thrones has once again been honored with 22 nominations for the 2018 Emmys. Recently, it was reported by the ET that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the actor who plays Jaime Lannister in the show has been placed amongst the nine first-time acting nominees. He also attended an exclusive interview with the ET. Read on.

Jaime Lannister started as a proud Lannister in the First Season, who lacked honor and showed disrespect towards people like Ned Stark. He didn’t even think twice before pushing the ten-year-old Bran Stark out of the window when he had known of Jaime’s incestuous relation with Cersei Lannister.

“He was a bit of a douche,” the actor revealed to the ET.

But, his character in the series since the third season had somewhat changed. But, what caused this change? We guess it was his newly-found relation with Brienne of Tarth. The traveling companions once despised each other but, had gained a bit of mutual respect for each other over time. This change especially happened when Jaime revealed the real reason for killing the Mad Kingto Brienne.

Moving further, he had to suffer major losses of his son Joffrey and his father Tywin Lannister – for which he might have felt being responsible. Up next, Myrcella also died in his arms poisoned by Ellaria Sand. And, although he had tried to keep his son Tommen safe, he ended his life seeing Cersei’s act of madness in the sixth season. But, a major change in Jaime’s story arc happened when he abandoned his sister to honor the pledge he made to Daenerys and Jon Snow. Talking about this drastic transition, Nikolaj revealed:

“In season three, you felt this shift in the way that audiences perceived the character…They might have liked him as a character, but they didn’t like him as a person. But the nature of the show, you get to know someone more and more and it’s like, ‘OK, he’s having sex with his sister, but there’s more to this guy.’ And I think the fact that he left at the end of season seven, there was a sense of relief.”

Nikolaj has earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in the seventh season. He has been nominated for the fourth episode – ‘Spoils of War’. Still, the way he brought justice to House Tyrell for betraying the Lannisters in the third episode ‘The Queen’s Justice’ can’t be ignored. Talking about the scene shared between him and Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrell), he said:

““It was a great scene…He [Jaime] had to do what he had to do, but he did it with such grace. But of course, the beauty of the scene is that at the very end, she flips the power dynamic. It was very thrilling to be a part of Diana’s last scene on Thrones.”

Also, talking about one of the longest battle sequences he filmed for the episode ‘Spoils of War’, he said:

“I was talking to Lena [Cersei Lannister] about this before we both found out. I was going, ‘At this point, now that we’re so close, you just want to make it to the end…If you had gone out in season three or four, it would have been fine. But now, we’re so close. It was definitely a relief to be a part of it.”

The filming for the final season has already wrapped up with a wrap-up party, attended by most of the cast members. Like other cast members, Game of Thrones has become an important part of life for Nikolaj too. He ends by saying, “I’m really going to miss working on a scale and a level like we have for the past nine years.”

So, what did you think about this interview of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau by the ET? Tell us in the comments.