Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister): Accurate Game of Thrones spoilers are “out there”

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) has been hitting the press trail lately to promote his new movie Small Crimes, out tomorrow on Netflix. But while he’s getting plenty of plugs in, interviewers can’t help but ask him about the upcoming season of Game of Thrones. He appeared on BUILD Series earlier this week, and dropped some tidbits about what to expect. Watch the video below. The Game of Thrones questions come in at around 14:30.

The most interesting bit is probably where he talks about the nature of Game of Thrones spoilers. They’re out there, but how do you separate the truth from the fiction? According to Coster-Waldau, you can’t. (Emphasis added.)

"What’s interesting, though, is every year there are huge spoilers online where people find out real stuff and they will post it, and you go, ‘Oh my God, they just spoiled the whole season online!’ But then, because there’s 10,000 other spoilers out there, they’re not real. It just gets lost in the shuffle. So, it’s all out there, by the way, if you can find it."

Is Coster-Waldau referring to a well-publicized series of leaks that broke on Reddit shortly after season 7 started filming? Lord knows there are enough other spoilers floating around. And he’s not above toying with the audience, either — he said just a couple days ago in another interview that the theory that Jaime will kill Cersei “absolutely makes sense.” We can separate the truth from the fiction when season 7 premieres on July 16.

The Jaime-kills-Cersei theory has been popular for a long time, but went into overdrive when Jaime returned to King’s Landing in the season 6 finale and fixed his pyromaniacal sister with a significant look. “People are really reading into that look…I was just going through my grocery list,” he joked.

"I was very into the scene. It’s interesting how much you read into a look like that, because, it’s like, ‘Oh, clearly he’s going to leave her now. There’s no question. This is it. This is reminding him why he killed the Mad King. Now he’s going to go and kill Cersei. There’s no question about it.’ And it might happen, who knows? I mean, I know, but…"

He also weighed in on Tormund’s attempts to woo Brienne, which looks like it will continue in season 7. “I don’t think he’s jealous,” Coster-Waldau said of Jaime. “I think it’s a perfect couple ― I think Tormund would rock her world.”

As for continued work on season 7, Coster-Waldau revealed that he’ll be going in to the studio to do automated dialogue replacement (ADR) next week. That’s when actors stand near a microphone and dub over lines that didn’t sound quite right in the original mix. It can lead to some interesting situations. Beyond that, it’s full speed ahead to the new season. “I hope [fans will be satisfied],” he said. “I know we did our best. Everyone worked their asses off.”

Other bits

• Coster-Waldau briefly mentions a “big movie” he did, which I suspect was Gods of Egypt: “That was an experience.” That it was.
• On that time HBO made fans watch ice melt for an hour-and-a-half to find out the season 7 premiere date: “I couldn’t believe that…I’m sure someone had a great idea.” He says that showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss thought it was embarrassing, too.
• Big-time SPOILERS: “One of the big things we introduce in the new season is a therapist [for Jaime]…Jaime finds this guy called Carl, and they sit down and they talk.” Episode 3 is a bottle episode with just Jaime and Carl. Awesome.
• Who does Coster-Waldau want on the Iron Throne? “They should just abolish the throne. But if I had to pick one…I think Bran will be involved in this whole thing. I don’t think he’ll end up on the throne. But you would think that someone unlikely like Samwell Tarly would end up on the throne…You don’t want — I mean, they’re great — but you don’t want Jon Snow or Daenerys or Cersei or any of those cause then it’s just gonna continue.” He doesn’t think Jaime would want any part of it, though. “He sat on that throne once and it didn’t turn out well, did it?”
• Could he be in a Robert’s Rebellion prequel? “I can play [a] 16-year-old! Of course I can. I’ve got range!”
• Finally, how does Coster-Waldau want Jaime to die? “I don’t want Jaime to die. I want him to just slowly fade away. Just old age.”