‘Game of Thrones’ Star Ordered to Pay $2M for Breaching Contract

A Lannister always pays his debts, but this is one that Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau might not be too happy about. The Jaime Lannister actor has been ordered to pay $2 million to his former manager in a breach of contract case.

Coster-Waldau was ordered by an arbitrator to pay the sum — which breaks down to around $1.75 million plus around $225,000 in interest — to his former manager Jill Littman, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Coster-Waldau’s career was managed by Littman and Impression Entertainment for a decade until the actor ended their relationship by email in 2015 citing the impending end of Game of Thrones.

The severing of the relationship led to a dispute over commissions owed to Littman. While Littman was representing Coster-Waldau she was paid 10-percent of his income, but the dispute centered around money she was owed for the actor’s work after he severed ties to Littman. While Coster-Waldau said there was an oral agreement for no post-termination commissions, Littman was able to produce a written agreement stating otherwise. The agreement was part of the paperwork for the actor’s O-1 visa which Littman’s agency sponsored him for. Coster-Waldau argued that the agreement was a “sham” for the purposes of immigration.

That claim opened up another can of worms for Coster-Waldau, as he had brought his manager, Brandon Liebman of William Morris Endeavor, to explain that WME had initially planned to sponsor the actor with a similar agreement that they simply wouldn’t consider “real” or enforce — potentially an issue of immigration fraud. Ultimately, however, Coster-Waldau’s claim that the agreement with Littman wasn’t real was rejected. The final award was issued by the arbitrator on Tuesday.

However, the case may not be settled just yet. Littman’s attorney Howard King told THR that Coster-Waldau is refusing to play and is appealing the award.

“Although a Lannister always pays his debts, [Coster-Waldau] has declined to honor the final ruling of the arbitrator and pay the compensation found to be due his former manager for all the successes she contributed to during her eight-year reign,” King said.

Maybe Coster-Waldau is hoping some of Game of Thrones character’s good fortune will make him victorious in the end. He recently told Huffington Post that both Jaime and his sister Cersei (Lena Headey) make it to the end of the series.

“It was a surprise,” Coster-Waldau said. “God, every time we got a new script I thought, ‘OK, this is probably going to be the one.’ But no. The Lannister kids made it to the end.”

Game of Thrones‘ eight and final season does not yet have a set release date, though it is expected sometime in summer of 2019.