When you think about Game of Thrones, it’s impossible to forget the disappointing final season and the fallout that came after. Millions of fans were furious at just how rushed and haphazardly put together it felt. There were endless social media threads and even petitions asking HBO to redo it all.
But for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who played Jaime Lannister in the show, none of that anger came as a shock. The Danish actor recently sat down with The Independent to talk about his upcoming BBC historical drama King & Conqueror.
But as always, the conversation drifted back to Westeros. And when asked about that polarizing finale, he was honest: “It was expected,” he said, almost shrugging off the controversy.
Why fans never stood a chance with the ending of Game of Thrones
Looking back, Coster-Waldau admits there was no possible way to land the story in a way that made everyone happy. “How are you ever gonna make an end that’s gonna satisfy everyone?” he asked. It’s a fair point, although fans of the show were always used to having their expectations subverted when beloved characters were killed off.
There really wasn’t anything like Game of Thrones when it was airing. For nearly a decade, it was a cultural monster and an international phenomenon.
Jaime’s sudden change of character and anticlimactic death in particular left almost all fans frustrated, but Coster-Waldau doesn’t dwell on that much: “I absolutely think people are entitled to whatever opinion they have, but it’s a television show. Someone told you a story and you didn’t like the ending. It’s really annoying, but…”
The actor, who is now 55, also shared that he’s thinking a lot about getting older, and he finds the collective anxiety about it all a bit ridiculous. From the dangers of AI to the absurd fear of aging, he has a lot on his mind right now.
More than just Jaime Lannister
It’s easy to forget that for almost a decade, Coster-Waldau spent every year filming Game of Thrones. The role made him a global star, but even with that kind of fame, he doesn’t let the finale define the experience.
He’s kept busy with new roles, like William of Normandy in BBC’s King & Conqueror, and with his 2024 documentary series An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet, which takes him around the world to meet people fighting for a sustainable future. He even had a very short cameo in 2023’s The Flash, where he played a character who had his pizza snatched by the titular character.
For Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones was just one story among many. And while the ending will always lead to debate, he doesn’t seem interested in reopening old wounds or spending too much time reminiscing about what could’ve been.