Nikolaj Coster-Waldau doesn’t miss Game of Thrones: “There’s nothing to come back to”

Much of the world is still stuck in quarantine as we ride out the coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean the cast of Game of Thrones isn’t getting up to stuff…from a safe distance, of course.

Take Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador who appeared remotely at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2020. Coster-Waldau, who’s long been an activist for causes he believes in, talked about how the pandemic had laid bare the inequalities plaguing societies around the world, and his hopes that the world may come out the other end of this heading towards a better place, so long as we keep our priorities straight.

“I remember in … the mid 2000s how everybody was talking about climate change,” he said. “Then the financial crisis hit, and within a year, it was not even on the agenda anymore … I just pray that we don’t make the same mistake. I mean, this is the opportunity. This is kind of it.”

"We are at a crossroads in so many ways, but I think this pandemic hopefully we will look back and say, OK that was a horrific tragedy, but in the wake of that, great change was made. This is the opportunity to reset everything."

It is kind of surprising how quickly global priorities can change, at least in retrospect. We were hearing a lot about climate change just a handful of months back. Then, understandably, everything was about the coronavirus, and then racial justice. Hopefully the governments of the world can take steps toward addressing all of these issues before it’s too late.

In addition to discussing these very important issues, Coster-Waldau also spilled on how he’s feeling about Game of Thrones now that it’s fading in the rearview mirror. It “changed my professional life for sure” and gave him lots of new opportunities, but he doesn’t miss it. “I miss the gang, my colleagues and the crew, you’ve spent 10 years on and off together. That was quite special. But we told the story and the story was over, so there’s nothing to come back to.”

So spake the Kingslayer.

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h/t CNBC