Perfect way to end
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau says his final scene in Game Of Thrones is beautiful.
HBO’S fantasy series Game Of Thrones is ramping up both action and drama for its final season.
Season Eight’s first full-length trailer was released early this month, and it showcased dragons taking flight above a snowed-in landscape, men getting ready for battle and loads of cryptic looks on some of the main characters. It was reported that the trailer clocked 81 million views in just 24 hours.
Game Of Thrones premiered in 2011, and was the first fantasy series to change the course of the genre on TV. As the production scale grew more massive with every season, it proved again and again why it’s one of the greatest television shows ever created.
Based on George R.R. Martin’s books A Song Of Ice And Fire, Game Of Thrones is set in the mythical lands of Westeros where nine families fight to sit on the Iron Throne and rule the land.
In Season Seven, the fight is heightened with the return of an ancient enemy called the White Walkers (zombie-like creatures that have been dormant for thousand of years) invoking the great war between the living and the dead. This has forced some of the houses to work together. But, as expected, some of the houses are not playing fair.
Actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau described the end of the series as a mix of relief and pride during StarLifestyle’s interview in London, last month.
“I am proud to have been on a show that has had this kind of impact and success,” he said. “And relief that it has come to an end in the way that (showrunners) David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had wanted it to.”
In the series, the 48-year-old Danish actor plays Jaime Lannister, from the house of Lannister. Jamie’s twin sister is the current ruler of Westeros and she commands it with both cruelty and cunningness.
From the start of the show, Jamie’s personality is a big question mark; he is not exactly good, but he’s not completely rotten either.
Although he is loyal to a fault to his family – especially to his sister, Cersei (Lena Heady) – Jamie has been the catalyst for some of the terrible things to have happened on the show, including throwing an innocent boy out of a window, that left him paralysed. Jamie is responsible for killing a previous king and putting his brother-in-law on the Iron Throne.
But along the way, this character has shown strength to do what is right. For example, in Season Seven, Jamie decided to go against his sister’s wishes and join the fight against the common enemy, the White Walkers.
“I find Jamie so interesting ... The core of this guy is that he does what he does in the name of love. He’s a complex guy,” explained CosterWaldau, who look well put-together in person with some grey hair peeking out of his sideburn.
“That’s the key to Game Of Thrones ,the characters are never just black and white. Even though his story is set in this fantastical world and his circumstances are extreme, he is relatable.”
While Coster-Waldau didn’t reveal any plot points for the series’ final season, this is what he had to say about his own final scene as Jamie Lannister.
“I had a great last scene. It was absolutely beautiful. It was the perfect way to end, obviously I can’t tell you what the scene was.
“It wasn’t the final scene (of the series), but it was close to the end. It was shot at a beautiful location.
“At this point, I had seen quite a lot of colleagues wrap, so I had seen a lot of tears, beautiful speeches, and I knew what to expect. I didn’t expect to be emotional, so I don’t know what happened, I had allergy, there was something in my eye,” he said, smiling, while touching the corner of his left eye.
“My final scene was beautiful.” The final season of Game Of Thrones premieres on April 15 at 9am, and repeats at 10pm on HBO (Astro Ch 411). The series will also be available on HBO On Demand (via Astro Go).