Nikolaj Coster-Waldau teases a satisfying, surprising ending to Game of Thrones

By now, unless you’ve been living in a cave with no WiFi, you probably know that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones season 7. He’s up against some tough competition, including his Thrones castmate Peter Dinklage (Tyrion).

Coster-Waldau is up for his performance in “The Spoils of War,” but as he tells HuffPost, he’s also proud of other moments from season 7. “There was Diana Rigg’s [Olenna Tyrell’s] last scene, which was beautifully written. I forgot to mention that she’s also nominated [for Guest Actress], which is very well deserved. And then my final scene with Lena [Cersei Lannister]. We’ve built up to that for seven seasons so it was just a great way to end it.”

"On “Game of Thrones,” we’re such an ensemble cast and there’s a feeling of “we’re doing this together.” So I see myself there representing the actors with [fellow nominees] Lena [Headey] and Peter [Dinklage], and I’m just thrilled to be there. The other actors in the category are all tremendous, but I don’t feel any anxiety or fear. Also, the show got 22 nominations! It really is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s unbelievable."

Coster-Waldau dug a little more deeply into that Cersei scene, where Jaime finally walked out on his sister-lover. As Coster-Waldau sees it, that was a long time coming. “[Showrunners] Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff] have always played the long game the way they stretch things out, so when you get the payoff it really pays off,” he said. “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.”

"What I’m saying though, is I thought that end scene in Season 7 would have happened before. For me, playing Jaime, when he gets to that point, it really was “finally!” Finally he says no. Finally he stands up to her. It was such a brutal scene because they’re playing two different games: Cersei’s playing the game of thrones and Jaime’s playing the honest game of survival, and trying to accommodate both his sister and his brother."

However, when Jaime leaves Cersei, he also leaves their unborn child, two things Coster-Waldau says are “100 percent connected.”

"That’s also what he told her, he says, “What’s the point? If we don’t defeat this threat, there is no future for our child.” I think he’s doing it for the right reasons, he gave his word, but also it’s the future of mankind and the future of him and Cersei that’s at stake."

Coster-Waldau also commented on the more rapid pace of season 7; was that a result of not having any book material to riff on? “You’d have to ask Dan and David since it’s their show,” he said. “I think that they definitely spoke to George R.R. Martin a couple seasons back to hear how he imagined the ending to be. But it’s not written, so it’s one thing to have an idea but when you’re writing it, it changes.”

"Dan and David had a very specific end in sight and they also understand the fact that you don’t want to overstay your welcome. “Game of Thrones” has been such a success for that reason — you know there’s an end in sight and they’re not going to stretch it out."

Yeah, about that ending…While Coster-Waldau has been doing this too long to give away anything specific, he did dance around what will happen to Jaime immediately after the last time we saw him in “The Dragon and the Wolf,” a lone man riding along the Kingsroad. “Well, he is heading north,” Coster-Waldau admitted. “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.'”

Also: in season 8, prepare for bearded Jaime.

“Well, he’s on the road for a while,” Coster-Waldau explained. “Wherever he is going it takes some time, so his hair grows.” I’m sure fans will have fun decoding what that means for the ever-fluctuating Game of Thrones timeline.

Wherever his final destination, Jaime has one of the few Valyrian steel swords left in Westeros, which could make him indispensable in a fight against the Night King. Other people with Valyrian steel weapons include Jon Snow (Longclaw), Brienne of Tarth (Oathkeeper), Samwell Tarly (Heartsbane) and Arya Stark (Catspaw dagger). Will we see Jaime stand side to side with those characters against the army of the dead? “Mmmm, that would be cool. [Laughs] But let’s just wait and see if that happens. I’m so excited.”

Thanks, man.

Finally, Coster-Waldau let us know how he felt after the final scripts for the first time. The short version: he dug it.

"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."

Coster-Waldau has sounded that note about the ending coming together before. We’re looking forward to seeing how all the pieces fit.

As far as saying goodbye to the cast and crew, he admits that, after a season full of teary farewells, things got a little emotional. “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.”

"[T]he success of the show is great, but it’s really also meeting all these people in Belfast ― It’s the same crew from Season 1 to the end. It’s a special thing. And someone said we’ve had no assholes, which is quite extraordinary, really. You look at a workplace of more than 1,000 people, and there are no assholes."

We’ll see the conclusion of Jaime’s journey Game of Thrones returns for its eighth and final season at some point in the first half of 2019. When that happens, I suspect Coster-Waldau won’t be the only one with moisture around his eyes.

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