'Game of Thrones' star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has hinted at a sad ending for Jamie Lannister
Now he's abandoned Cersei, what's next for the Kingslayer?
Game of Thrones is the ultimate cut-throat TV show. It takes no prisoners with its storylines, it holds our emotions hostage and ruthlessly cuts down our favourite characters in their prime. Love ya’ Olenna!
But one golden-haired anti-hero who’s somehow managed to survive seven seasons of Westerosi war and bloodshed is Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s Jamie Lannister (admittedly minus a hand).
And at the end of season seven, he finally broke away from his tyrannical twin sister and lover Queen Cersei (Lena Headey) as she prepared to betray her pact with Jon Snow and Daenerys to defeat the White Walkers. Horrified at her short-sightedness and duplicity, Jamie left Cersei in King’s Landing to join the battle against the undead in the north.
In a new interview, Coster-Waldau has discussed the impact of Jamie abandoning his sister and what it could mean for his character in the final season.
“Can we redefine ourselves? Most people have moments in their life where you go, ‘Can I really, fundamentally change?’” he told Vanity Fair.
“The core of him has always been Cersei… When that’s taken away, what are you then? What’s left? Is there anything left? When he leaves, obviously he has no idea. He doesn’t know the answer to that question.”
Has there ever been a more complicated brother-sister relationship on TV? We think not
In their final scene together, Cersei suggested that she’d have Jaime killed for his disobedience, to which her brother replies defiantly: “I don’t believe you.”
Explaining the subtext of that line, the Kingslayer said in the interview: “I don’t love you anymore… I’m calling your bluff, and, you know, you can’t hurt me now because my heart has been destroyed by you. You can’t hurt me any more than you already have.”
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But if you thought Jamie is now redeemed and will join the virtuous duo of Jon and Danny, maybe you should think again because Coster-Waldau seems to suggest that Jaime’s defiant stand may not last too long.
“That’s, of course, said in a moment of passion. Who knows if it’s true? I’ve almost been married 20 years and I’m very, very lucky. I have a wonderful wife. But over 20 years, there are times where you have fights.
“You can be so angry that for a second in your passion and anger you can go, ‘Oh, fuck this.’ Of course, three seconds later, you go, ‘No, no, no. What am I doing? What am I thinking?’”
Does this mean Jamie might, in fact, turn back and stay loyal to his treacherous sister? We’ll find out next year when the final, blockbuster season of Game of Thrones finally airs.
(Images: Macall B. Polay/HBO)
