Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime) talks Game of Thrones typecasting

To this day, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is “a little ashamed” to say he was on a show about fantasy and dragons, but he learned to love it like the rest of us.

After eight seasons as the knight in tarnished armor Jaime Lannister on Game of Thrones, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is hanging up his sword, at least for now. But the good-natured actor seems well-aware that the HBO show is among the biggest things he’s ever done or will ever do, and happily reminisced about its humble beginnings with NME. “I had no idea I would end up a phenomenon,” Coster-Waldau said. “After we shot the pilot, most of us thought it probably wasn’t going to go anywhere. We had a great time shooting, but it seemed weird.”

His friends also thought it was a bit weird when he told them about it. “First, I said I’ve got an HBO show and they were very impressed. And then I said it’s a fantasy about dragons and they balked: ‘Jesus Christ! That sounds so stupid!’ Even now, I feel a little ashamed to say it out loud. But that’s what it is – a fantasy with dragons.”

Indeed, Game of Thrones had a lot to do with legitimizing fantasy among wider audiences, which led to the explosion of fantasy shows we’re seeing today, with The Witcher and His Dark Materials and The Wheel of Time and more. For Coster-Waldau, it meant getting offered “a lot of parts that were knights or villains,” although he’s not worried  about typecasting.

"I think I’m too old for that now,” he says. “Obviously most people will think, ‘Jamie Lanister’, [when they see me] – and that’s great because it was such a big show. But there’s another 60 films that I’ve done that you might not have watched. It would be weird if you had! There are some that you shouldn’t – I’d feel sorry for you!"

At the moment, Coster-Waldau is trying to get away from the sheer scale of Game of Thrones by doing some smaller, quieter projects. His latest, The Silencing, is about a hunter and recovering alcoholic mourning the death of his daughter. When the body of a teenaged girl shows up, he finds himself in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the killer.

“After Game Of Thrones, I was attracted to getting to do smaller things where it’s just two people in a room talking so –  and this sounds silly – I could just focus on the acting,” Coster-Waldau said. “In its last year, Thrones was so big on every level, it was crazy,”

Of course, there were times when Thrones went small, even in its later seasons. One of the best examples was the death scene of Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg), whom Jaime granted a painless death by poison. Naturally, Olenna took the opportunity to reveal that she had killed his son Joffrey, and then died before he could do anything about it.

Diana Rigg died earlier this year, resulting in an outpouring of love from her Game of Thrones costars, including Coster-Waldau. “She was always funny and the sharpest knife in the drawer,” he said. “The older gentlemen actors would complain somewhat about something like, ‘It’s too bloody hot in here!’ and she would say something biting and funny to them and that would settle it. She was always professional, but she was a joy to work with. That final scene was the only two-hander we had and it was so beautifully written. She ends the scene with such dignity, wit and triumph – no one else could have nailed it like her.”

Coster-Waldau and his GoT family talked about Rigg’s death on their WhatsApp group, which remains active. (“Although what happens in it is top secret!” Coster-Waldau noted.) I wonder if they ever talk about the Game of Thrones Red Nose Day special, where Coster-Waldau sung a song in tribute to Jaime’s incestuous relationship with her sister Cersei, penned by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

“I got the song in the car and it was very high-pitched,” Coster-Waldau remembered. “I don’t really sing – and definitely not high-pitched! But I was like, ‘Fuck it!’ But then I put the earphones on and I had to sing in front of Chris Martin – and that really made me shit myself. They kept saying, ‘Just sing as loud as you can’, which made it worse. I could see him grimacing, obviously thinking, ‘Oh this is painful!’”

As for what’s next, we know Coster-Waldau thinks he’s done playing knights, but never say never, right? Although he laughed off a question about whether he would considering making an appearance in HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon. “I put myself on tape – but I haven’t heard back yet.”

The Silencing is available on demand now.

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