Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is nominated for an Emmy for his work on the seventh season of Game of Thrones, and by gum, you’re going to hear about it. It’s his first Emmy nomination ever, which could explain the press blitz he’s been on.
His latest interview is with The Wrap, where he reminisced about one of the high points from the most recent season: Jaime’s revelatory conversation with Lady Olenna Tyrell. “Finally, when everyone thought the Lannisters were just about to be crushed completely, [Jaime] turned the whole thing around,” Coster-Waldau said. “He’d done a perfect maneuver from a military standpoint and a tactical standpoint. And still he came in and treated her with respect and grace.” Things were looking up, weren’t they?
He did everything right and obviously he had what he thought was complete control of the situation. He was going to be gracious and give her an easy way out if, you will, with the poison. And at the very last moment, she flips the whole power dynamic and takes control. It was just beautifully written. To work with an actress like Diana Rigg is very exciting and she is brilliant, as you would expect. It was definitely a high point not just of the season, but the whole show, for me.
It’s sobering to think that when Coster-Waldau talks about favorite scenes from “the whole show,” he means it, since the final season has finished filming. Can we put the Jaime-Olenna scene alongside other great Jaime scenes like him pushing Bran out the window, making his bathtub confession to Brienne, threatening Edmure into helping him take back Riverrun and charging Daenerys during the Loot Train Attack? I think we can.
Hopefully we’ll be able to add a couple more scenes to that list when Game of Thrones finally wraps. On the subject of wrapping, Coster-Waldau is satisfied with the work he’s done on the show, although there are a few things about the day-to-day experience of shooting it he won’t miss.
It’s a very satisfying feeling. I’m sure there are a lot of financial reasons to extend ‘Game of Thrones’ for another two, three years. But that was never what [creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] wanted. It just feels like we go out the right way. But, yes, I’m going to miss the words. [Laughs]. I’m not going to miss the armor. The costumes were very heavy. But beautiful.
The Emmys go down September 17. We’re hoping Coster-Waldau takes home the gold.
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