Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a seasoned professional when it comes to dodging important questions about upcoming seasons of the show. When talking to Men’s Health magazine, the actor expertly side-stepped any potential spoiler for the show’s eighth and final season, which premieres on April 14.
However, everyone has a breaking point, and when asked if there was anything at all he could reveal, Coster-Waldau caved. “He grows out his arm. His arm grows back. It’s a claw. It comes out as a claw. No—it’s a paw.” Well, I guess that ruins season 8 for all of us. Pack it up folks, the show’s over.
Kidding aside, Coster-Waldau talked a bit about his final day on set. “I think I got some dust in my eye.” He reporedtly considers the ending “fantastic,” but wouldn’t get more specific than that. Thank you, Kingslayer, you’ve revealed nothing helpful.
Coster-Waldau has been doing this since the start, so naturally, it’s going to be weird for him when the series finale airs and there’s no set to go back to. “Maybe this fall, when we’re not going back to Belfast, that’s when you go, ‘Oh, I guess it really is over.’” For now, he’s just proud of the work everyone has done.
[T]hat D. B. Weiss and David Benioff stuck to their guns and said, ‘This is the story we wanna tell; we’re not gonna extend this’—because I’m sure HBO would have loved another couple years of this show. There’s an audience for it, for sure. But I think everyone who watches the show will appreciate that it’s finished—that it was one story from episode 1 to episode 83, and we told it.
Getting into some juicy details, the actor talked about filming the Battle of Winterfell, which will be the longest on-screen battle in television and film history. “The last season was so intense. It was brutal,” he says of the grueling 55-night shoot. “[B]ut because it was the last season, it was like, ‘Yes, we can do this.’”
Coster-Waldau also took a moment to reflect on Jaime’s incestuous relationship with his twin sister Cersei. “I think most people have at least been attracted to someone you shouldn’t be,” he said. “Not your sister, but someone you really shouldn’t fall in love with. Like your best friend’s girlfriend. It’s one of the few true love stories in Game of Thrones—Jaime is dedicated to this woman.”
And now that Jaime has finally severed ties with the only woman he has ever loved, he’s traveling up North to help fight for the living, like some ronin warrior, down on his luck, looking for one last chance at redemption. “He has not had a lot of success and joy in his life,” Coster-Waldau said. “Everything he touches breaks.”
Jaime has had one of the more complex arcs on the show. From pushing Bran out of a window in the series premiere to losing his sword hand to watching his awful son die right in front of him to watching his much better daughter die in his arms to besieging Riverrun to leaving his sister, Jaime’s been through the wringer.
It’s been great stuff to play, but occasionally Coster-Waldau has wished the writers would slow down Jaime’s journey a bit, say after his son Tommen killed himself at the end of season 6. “I’ve driven the writers crazy for exactly that reason,” he said. “It’s the nature of the show that the story lines jump around, but couldn’t [Jaime and Cersei] discuss the fact that their last remaining child is dead, and now Cersei’s going to be queen? So much happens in between—you have to connect these dots as an actor and sometimes make pretty massive leaps. There’s a lot of bridges you have to build in your mind.”
By this time, both David [Benioff] and D.B. [Weiss] have learned that actors can be emotional. But of course, my focus is just [on Jaime]. Their focus is on a hundred other actors. I have the luxury of focusing on this. I want them to sit for days and talk about this. ‘What do you mean you don’t have time to talk to me about Jaime? He’s the most important thing in the world.’
Coster-Waldau recalls reading for the part of Jaime Lannister, not knowing much about the character beyond the fact that he was a “swaggering swordsman” who loses his hand early on in the show. Oh, and that he pushed a child out of a tower window. “The things I do for love.” That line fascinated Coster-Waldau, because of how it contrasts with the action. “It’s very rare that you meet someone who completely, 100 percent walks the walk and talks the talk,” he said. “Everyone has opinions about everything, but very few can actually live up to the ideals that they bestow on others. Right now we’re going through a time when people fuck [up]—and I’m not talking about criminal behavior, just people being idiots. There’s no forgiveness. You crossed the line, buddy.”
Can the other characters forgive Jaime for what he’s done? Can the fans? That’s something I’m sure we’ll all grapple with as we come to the end of the road.
Game of Thrones returns for season 8 on April 14.
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