Game of Thrones Star Never Thought Jaime Would Kill Cersei

There were few winners in the Game of Thrones, though a few fan-favorite characters managed to survive. But the gods of Westeros, old and new, did not allow everyone to get a happy ending, especially the cruelest players in series. But Jaime Lannister did manage to go out the exact way he wanted: in the arms of his sister Cersei Lannister.

Jaime actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the series end, addressing that it couldn’t have ended any other way for his character despite his brief redemption.

“I thought it was a great ending for that couple,” Coster-Waldau explained. “She was never going to surrender. And he says it to Bronn in season 4. Bronn asked, ‘How would you want it to end?’ And Jaime says, ‘In the arms of the woman I love.’ So this was foreshadowed and that’s what happened. There’s a least a moment that they do connect: ‘Just look at me, just look in my eyes, it’s just you and me…’“

Tyrion Lannister had a chance to keep his brother safe, but Coster-Waldau added that Jaime’s fate was basically inevitable at that point.

“The things you do for love… you have to. He is stopped at one point, when he’s captured,” he said. “You might say: ‘Tyrion, what are you doing?’ Tyrion could have saved his brother by not [setting him free]. But it would have killed Jaime not to go — in a different way, of course.”

Some fans theorized that the ending would include Jaime finally mustering up the courage to kill his sister, overcoming his self-loathing and finally settling down with Brienne of Tarth instead. It would have been a poetic ending for his arc, given that he was known across the realm for killing the Mad King, and would then become the Queenslayer after Cersei’s brutal rule.

“I never thought he would kill Cersei. He wouldn’t do that,” Coster-Waldau said, downplaying that theory.

When asked about the Game of Thrones ending, the actor’s response indicates that he’s wholly satisfied with what the HBO TV series achieved in the finale.

“I don’t think they could have done it any better. It makes sense. There’s a logic to it without it being obvious at all,” he said.