Game of Thrones has finally come to a end, and even the show’s cast has expressed mixed emotions about how the series brought their respective character arcs to a close. At least one actor, however, feels the show did right by him, as hard as it was to watch. “It is heartbreaking,†Nikolaj Coster-Waldau told Entertainment Weekly about the death of Jaime Lannister. “It does make sense, even though you don’t want it to.â€
Fans weren’t thrilled, to say the least, that Jaime spent his last moments with cutthroat ruler and twin sister Cersei Lannister, some having suspected Jaime only returned to her side to kill her. However, if you ask Coster-Waldau, the pair were destined to meet their fate together. “I thought it was a great ending for that couple,†the actor explained. “She was never going to surrender. And he says it to Bronn in season four. 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 …’â€
But while Coster-Waldau sees the rationale between a dual Lannister demise, another development shocked him: Jaime sharing a bed with Brienne of Tarth, played by Gwendoline Christie, before abandoning her. “I was shocked. I never thought it was going to happen,†the actor says. “It was really weird. It was awkward. I was trying to laugh and Gwendoline was like, ‘Don’t f—ing laugh!’ but then he says good-bye. He’s like, ‘You don’t understand, I’m not a good man, I’m a terrible man, I’m just like my sister,’ and it’s heartbreaking.â€
No matter how fans feel about the series’ conclusion, the actor says, in the end the Lannister twins finished their story where they began: with each other (and, you know, buried under a collapsed building’s worth of rubble). “It is heartbreaking,†Coster-Waldau concludes. “It does make sense, even though you don’t want it to. And the way it ends with him, he finally finds her and it’s a beautiful ending.â€