Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on Game of Thrones Season 8 and a popular fan theory

Initially hated as a character – Jaime Lannister has come a long way from pushing a ten-year-old out of a window to abandoning his sister for honoring a pledge. His last scene of riding north in a non-Lannister attire gave us many takeaways and theories for the final season. In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau – the actor who plays Jaime’s role addressed a few of them. Read on.

Recently, HBO gave us some hope for an earlier Game of Thrones Season 8 with a three-second-long footage from the same. And, as per the details we know about the airing schedule more footage and teasers may start dropping soon. Nikolaj too teased the final season. He said,

“I think if it hadn’t have been the last season, people would’ve just collapsed…We wouldn’t have made it. I mean, at one point the crew had 52 nights in one go in Northern Ireland. Just unheard of.”

Of course, we all do understand the amount of hard work the entire team of Game of Thrones is putting in to make the final season memorable. Nikolaj also answered various other questions. On being asked about him recently nominated for the 2018 Emmys he said:

“I know. I wore them down, slowly but surely I was very surprised and very happy. I was on another trip in Greenland and I was standing in the airport with my two daughters and our two dogs and we’d been rerouted. I was trying to persuade this cop to allow me to take the dogs out because they were about to … I’d say pee their pants, but they were ready to go. Then, I got the call [about the Emmys] and it was very confusing — a perfect way to find out. The cop then allowed the dogs to go out so it was a huge moment of joy for the dogs and for me. For different reasons, but we shared the joy.”

The final scene shared between Jaime Lannister and his sister Cersei Lannister surprised us manifold. Talking about what it felt to him reading the script for the finale of the seventh season, the actor revealed:

“One of the difficult things with this show as an actor — and I speak for myself — is, up until Season 3, I knew what was going to happen. Then, after that, the writers kept everything very close to the chest. They didn’t share anything but the scripts. Now, of course, you use your imagination all the time, so I kept imagining what would happen after we finished the season. You build these whole storylines up and then suddenly you come back and you read the scripts and you go, “Oh, well, how am I going to do that? How am I going to get to that point?” In my mind, after Season 6 ― which ends with Jaime coming back [to King’s Landing] and seeing Cersei on the throne ― I imagined a lot of other things happening.

Dan and David have always played the long game the way they stretch things out, so when you get the payoff it really pays off. And we had a lot of almost heated discussions about how I was going to get to that point [with Cersei]. Like, [I asked], “Why don’t they discuss in depth the death of their son [Tommen]?” And they told me, “Well they do, but we don’t see that.” So all those things. It’s so much fun and difficult, and it’s also very frustrating. But then when you finally find your way, it’s very rewarding. For me, anyway…”

Talking about what’s next in line for Jaime in the final season, the actor said:

“Well, he is heading north. I don’t think you can assume that he’s going to make it up there, but who knows. For sure, we see him head north. He might be eaten by dragons, you never know. Or he might just stumble, things happen. Or he might find the love of his life and suddenly he’s like, “God, this is it. No more.”

The scripts for the final season had totally broken the hearts of the cast members like Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), who almost cried reading it. We wonder what it would make us feel watching it on-screen when the final season finally airs.

Talking about the same experience Coster-Waldau revealed, “I wrote the writers when I finished reading and just said, “I don’t think you could’ve done a better job at finishing this story.” To me, it was very satisfying but also very surprising and all the things that I was hoping for. It still made sense. It wasn’t like one of those where the killer is suddenly revealed in the last act and you go, “Oh! I didn’t see that coming.” Here, they’ve done a really, really good job.”

Upon Game of Thrones coming to an end and his experience working with the entire cast and crew for one last time, the actor said:

“It was a little bit emotional at the very, very end. It’s also just a build-up because throughout the season we had a lot of teary goodbyes and farewell dinners. When my turn came around, I really didn’t think it was going to phase me, but I have to admit that right when they said, “This is a series wrap for Nikolaj,” there might have been a tiny bit of moisture in the air, just around my eyes. But that was it…that was it.”

Finally, talking about the possibility of the theory of Gendry being a legitimate Baratheon (son of Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister) Nikolaj said:

“She’s been a busy bee, my dear sister.There are so many theories out there that you comment on one and then it takes on its own life. But, yes, I’ve heard that Gendry… I think Joe just wanted to get on the throne and that’s why he’s putting it out there.”

We hope that more interviews, footage, and teasers may arrive soon to ease up our cravings for the final season of Game of Thrones. Tell us your thoughts in the comments.