Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the actor who plays Jaime Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones, is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against his former manager Jill Littman. And in a testament to how popular the entertainment franchise he plays a key role in has become, with plot details for the final season of the show still a closely guarded secret, his lawsuit might as well have included a warning that spoilers are ahead.
Because as part of those court proceedings, Coster-Waldau, who of course plays a key member of the House of Lannister in GoT, was required to share details about his earnings related to the final season of Game of Thrones, which will air next year. We know, among other things, that he made a little more than a cool $1 million for each episode he appeared in — and we also know that he will appear in all six episodes of the final season, whereas it had been previously reported he wouldn’t be in the final two.
So there we go. Appearing in every episode has led to some speculation that Jaime may not die — or, at least, that he’ll make it all the way to the end.
The actor’s per-episode profits were a bit of a bump over what he earned per episode in Season 7 (almost $943,000). In related news, The Independent newspaper quotes him as saying he was thoroughly satisfied with the way the writers wrapped up everything — in fact, that he even went out of his way to tell them he doesn’t think they could have done a better job in bringing everything to a close.
“To me, it was very satisfying but also very surprising and all the things that I was hoping for,” he said. “It still made sense. It wasn’t like one of those where the killer is suddenly revealed in the last act and you go, ‘Oh! I didn’t see that coming.’ Here, they’ve done a really, really good job.”
In terms of things we still don’t know about the final season, probably the most tantalizing mystery is when it will actually return to the small screen. Filming has already wrapped, but HBO has not yet made an official announcement about a premiere data. Reading the tea leaves, some speculation has centered around Season 8 premiering sometime in late May 2019.
Elite Daily reports that Season 8 won’t be eligible for the 2019 Emmy Awards, “which means that the bulk of the final season will air after May 31, 2019, which is the eligibility deadline for the 2019 Emmys. Of course, May 31 is also the last day of the first half of 2019, which seems to mean that the final season will mostly air in the second half of the year. After The Huffington Post published (effects supervisor) Joe Bauer’s statements, HBO reconfirmed its statement that the new season would be debuting within the first half of 2019.”
