Nikolaj-Coster Waldau talks through Jaime Lannister’s long road to redemption
Jaime Lannister is a deeply flawed and complex character. In the first-ever episode of Game of Thrones, he pushed Bran Stark out a window, thus setting him on a course to become the Three-Eyed Raven. Since that moment, it’s been a long road for the Kingslayer. He lost his hand and all three of his children, made new friends and lost old ones. He was known for breaking oaths, but committed to keeping the one he made to Catelyn Stark: to find Sansa and Arya and keep them safe. And at the end of the season 8 premiere, Jaime came face to face with Jaime, his original sin. As actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau tells Variety, the word that best describes Jaime’s journey best is “change.”
So with all that’s happened since the final scene of the series premiere and the final scene of the most recent episode, what was Jaime expecting to find when he arrived at Winterfell? “I’m sure he went through all kinds of scenarios about what would happen when he went back to Winterfell,” Coster-Waldau told The Hollywood Reporter. “[A]nd I’m sure that’s the last thing he expected to see. Once again, it’s kind of the same conundrum as in episode one of the whole show. If this kid, this young man, tells anybody what he knows? Well, Jaime is in trouble.”
In the promo trailer for Episode 802, we see Jaime being held accountable for killing Daenerys’ father, Aerys “the Mad King” Targaryen. Would Bran reveal to Jon and the rest of his protective family that it was Jaime who pushed him out of that tower? Bran’s got plans for everyone it seems, and that includes the Kingslayer.
What exactly are those plans? Coster-Waldau isn’t spilling. “He [Bran] did say early on in this episode that he was waiting for an old friend; he knows things. It’s such a cliffhanger that for me to give anything away would be [career] suicide.”
Still, for all of Jaime’s growth, Coster-Waldau believes he’s holding on to one thing that makes him who he is. “I don’t see him as a hero. I see him as a guy who is incredibly dedicated to his family and the people he loves. I do believe the line he says when he pushes Bran out the window — ‘The things I do for love’ — it’s really the core of him.”
"He will do whatever it takes to protect the people he loves. In the first season, it was Cersei and their children. Who knows what happens in season eight, but I really think that’s at his core. I also think the reason he left Cersei is because he loves her and he loves the unborn child inside of her. That’s one thing. The other thing is, he is a man of his word. Even though he’s known as this dishonorable man, he actually does always follow through — except that once, with the Mad King. He did save a million people, but who’s counting?"
Ah, so Jaime still believes Cersei is pregnant, which frankly is still an open question so far as I’m concerned. But we’ll see.
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Finally, what would Coster-Waldau like Game of Thrones’ legacy to be? “Let’s talk about that in 10 years’ time. But I hope that people love it because it’s entertaining,” he said. “You actually feel like you can identify with these people even though they’re in this weird world of Westeros.
"It never ceases to amaze me that this show has traveled so far. I think if before someone explained to you what this show was, I don’t think you’d ever think it was going to be the biggest show in the world."
That’s probably true…but 10 years and eight seasons later, Coster-Waldau gets to say he made it all the way through to the final season of a show that changed television.
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