Last weekend, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) attended Columbia’s first Comic Con in Bogotá, and naturally, everyone wanted to talk to the Kingslayer. In an interview with WRadio, Coster-Waldau gave his thoughts on Jaime’s seven-year development, and let a little something slip about a character he’ll interact with come season 8.
But first, the development. WRadio asked Coster-Waldau to explain Jaime’s transformation from the man who pushed Bran Stark out the window in the series premiere to the man who walked out on Cersei in the season 7 finale so he could serve a high cause. Coster-Waldau sees a clear line between those two choices.
I think it’s all connected. When he says “the things I do for love’” that’s one of the reasons he walks out in the end. He tells Cersei, after he learns she’s pregnant: “Hey, if we don’t defeat the threat from the North, we’ll all die and there won’t be any future, for you, for the child, or for anyone.” So he is still guided by that idea. And he is a man of his word. He promised he would go north.
The development of the character, in my mind, he’s become more of what his father told him in the first season: “I want you to become the man you were meant to be.” I think he is moving to that point and is getting very close to being that person.
Coster-Waldau named the scene where Jaime walks away from Cersei as among the most intense he’s done, since you’re not sure if she’s going to kill him.
So Jaime obeyed Cersei for love, and defied her for love. We’ll see if he’s really capable of forging his own path without her next year.
He may get some help from a new scene-mate. When asked about who’s easiest to work with, Coster-Waldau revealed that he’ll soon be sharing the screen with Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth):
I really liked working with Liam Cunningham, who plays Davos Seaworth. We worked together and now we get along very well. I will not go into depth because I would be giving away spoilers.
Now, technically Jaime and Davos have been in the same scene before, at the Dragonpit meeting in “The Dragon and the Wolf.” But they didn’t exchange any lines, or even look at each other. It sounds like they’ve have something heftier to work with next year, although Coster-Waldau at least had the sense not to give away any details.
And it’s not hugely surprising that these two will meet up; they’re both headed for Winterfell, after all. We’ll be curious to see how they play off each other.
Beyond that, Coster-Waldau named the Hound and Sansa as two of his favorite characters, on account of how much they’ve changed over the years, and said that given his druthers, he’s like Jaime to die as an old man. Good luck with that one.
To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
