Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on what he’ll miss, bring home when ‘GoT’ ends

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau —Ruben V. Nepales

LOS ANGELES—What he wants to bring home when “Game of Thrones” ends, what he will miss most, what he plans to do next—and more.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau—Jamie Lannister to many rabid fans of “GoT”—discussed those topics as the HBO series goes on with its announced plan to conclude with Season 8 in 2018 or, possibly, 2019.

The Denmark native, casual in a blue polo short and gray chinos, brought up another milestone. “I was always one of those who had a dream of being an actor,” Nikolaj said as he sipped coffee from a mug. “It seemed like an impossible thing. I grew up in a small town by the countryside, and that was something that happened in a different world.”

Nikolaj added, “But on Oct. 3, I will have my 25th anniversary as a professional actor.” He quipped with a laugh: “I am getting old. But back then, it was a dream.” He turns 47 on July 27.

On “Domino,” his crime-thriller film with director Brian De Palma, the actor shared: “We’re shooting it now. We have been developing the movie for the last few years. It was with a different director, and that didn’t work out. Then suddenly, Brian read the script and liked it.

“We had to make some changes, of course, because it was originally a
Scandinavian project, and it’s about a Danish cop. This cop chases another
cop. Then, it becomes part of a conspiracy, and it deals with the security threat
in Europe.”

Nikolaj has been married to singer-actress Nukaka (a former Miss Greenland) since 1998. They have two daughters, Filippa (born 2000) and Safina (2003).

Excerpts from our chat:

How do you imagine your character Jaime Lannister’s death will be like in the show? It’s going to be at the Lannister Retirement Home at the age of 89. He goes to bed and just dies (laughs).

No one knows, but what’s your guess—who will get the throne? I remember in one of the early seasons, Daenerys Targaryen had this dream that she was walking into the throne room—it was all broken—and snow was falling.

You would hope that, at one point, all of these families would get together and deal with the White Walkers’ threat. Because if they don’t, it’s going to be the Snowman on the throne.

This season has less episodes, but do you feel they are more epic? I spoke with Peter Dinklage and Emilia Clarke about this. It was a shorter season, but we all worked more days.

There is this feeling that it’s getting intense, because we’re getting to the end of this story. And it takes a lot of time to shoot those clashes. So, it’s like shooting seven big movies.

After Season 8, is there something from the show that you want to bring home? I think they want to make a museum, unfortunately. But I am still planning, I want to steal my hand.

Don’t they have more than one prop of your hand? No, they have one real one and a few plastic versions.

Can you talk about the challenges of playing a character who lost his right hand? In the beginning, it was a pain in the butt, because I had a stump and had to hide my own hand.

Once we had the Golden Hand, it’s basically a metal glove I put on. There’s a lot of horseback riding this season, which is tricky because you can’t move your fingers in that thing.

Did it make you appreciate having two hands in real life? Yeah (laughs). For me as the actor, it’s just been great. But to answer your question, I haven’t appreciated my right hand.

What’s going to be tough about the show ending? You have friends now in this show … people you’re very close to.

In the first few years, you suffer some kind of weird depression because you miss that thing. I’m going to miss them (cast mates), but it’ll be fine.

What will you miss most? I am going to miss the people I work with. Now and then, these friendships survive the fact that you don’t work together, but it’s very rare.

I’m also going to miss the writing.

When a character departs, are there fun parties? We always have fun parties—a lot of them. But we haven’t had any wakes or memorial services.

So, there are no farewell traditions for dearly departed characters? No. Because we are so cold.

This is just a job that comes to an end. But we’ll go out and have drinks, and we will say—it’s great to see you!

Do you interact at all with George R. R. Martin? I can say that I don’t have any interaction with George R. R. But we meet. He’s a very nice man. But we aren’t pen pals (laughs).

What do you think of a movie version of “Game of Thrones”? We were doing press once, and I was paired with Gwendoline Christie (who plays Brienne of Tarth). We came up with the perfect sitcom, “The Braime Bunch” (laughs).
With the idea of prequels, sequels or spinoffs, it would be Jaime and Brienne, and there are seven kids, just dealing with everyday life.

It’s like a mix of “The Brady Bunch” and “Modern Family.” So that would be my priority. Then, we will see if we can fit in a movie (laughs).

How is the fame level when you are back home? Back home, even if people recognize you—and they do—they don’t necessarily want to show that they recognize you. So you can go in peace to most places, and especially where I live, everyone is used to me.

It is also a university city, so every September, there are a lot of foreign students who come into town.

For a few weeks, there are a lot of selfies [with me], then they get bored with seeing me (laughs).

What’s your idea of a getaway with your wife? It’s stealing a few moments on our own and going away. Anywhere, really.

It could be a city we go to. My wife is from Greenland, so we have a little place in the South of Greenland.

Are you planning to do other stuff after the show? I am doing other stuff all the time. I’m shooting movies. I have a couple of projects that I am trying to produce. I can’t wait to have those six months a year to do other stuff.

The cast of “The Hobbit” did tattoos for the movies they were involved in. Has there been any conversation among “Game of Thrones’” cast members to do a tattoo? There has been (a conversation). There is an actor—and he shall remain unnamed (Kit Harington)—who said that the ones who were part of the pilot and are still standing in the end should have a tattoo. I don’t do tattoos. No, it’s against my religion (laughs).
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