Nikolaj Coster-Waldau – Jaime Lannister in HBO’s A Game of Thrones

August 21, 2009 · by Jay Tomio · in Television

More HBO casting coming out for the upcoming adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. We now have our Kingslayer, and as readers know, a character that develops into being perhaps one of the two or three of the most interesting characters or journeys as the novels themselves continue beyond A Game of Thrones.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau most recently was on Syfy’s (an Ron Moore’s) Virtuality and the titular character in the now canceled New Amsterdam (Fox). I was recently put on (by/filmcast) to The Kingdom of Heaven, a film that’s theatrical version is pretty ordinary (and even simply not good), but that sports a director’s (Ridley Scott) cut that’s pretty damn awesome–where you Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in some comparable settings where we may see him in A Game of Thrones. It was not his first work with Scott, as he also was in Black Hawk Down.

We never really get (well, maybe we did with Dinklage) the ideal choice in our mind (as usually that doesn’t exist) but I kind of think Nikolaj Coster-Waldau can pull of the pretty-boy, but rugged can-beat-that-ass role that Jaime Lannister represents. I definitely can picture him the actor as the later Jaime, but I have to see the golden locks before I can tell if he fits the aGoT mold (perhaps an earlier Danish film shows this side?). THR is describing the role as:

one of the king’s guards and a ruthless usurper of the previous king.

Previously we’ve had casting announcements of of Sean Bean (Ned Stark) and Kit Harrington (Jon Snow) Harry Lloyd (Viserys) Jack Gleeson (Joffrey) Mark Addy (Robert), and Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark.

A Game of Thrones is based on the novel by George R.R. Martin, the first book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series.

jaime-lannister

Tags: A Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire, Fantasy, George R.R. Martin, HBO, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Trinuviel

The casting of this show just keeps getting stronger and stronger, and I’m getting ridiculously excited about this show. They are assembling a very strong cast (I’m especially thrilled by the addition of Jennifer Ehle, who just perfect for Cately Stark) and I’m very happy seeing a fellow Dane getting such a break. Coster-Waldu is huge in Denmark – he’s an accomplished and versatile actor with a huge body of work behind him. He broke through bigtime in Denmark with his second film “Nattevagten” (Nightwatch) by Ole Bornedal, a creepy thriller that later was remade in an Amercian version with Ewan McGregor (though with less success than the Danish original, which was a big and unexpected hit a the time). He is also one of the very few Scandinavan actors to successfully break into the international arena of English-language cinema. Something that probably is due to the fact that he is able to shed his Danish accent, which is very hard for non-English speaking actors.

He doesn’t fit my visual image of Jaime Lannister (at not the golden-haired part) but that’s a minor quibble. I think he will do very well with the part, especially he is quite good at portraying slightly sinister and creepy characters. The fact that he’s gorgeous doesn’t hurt either. It will be very interesting to see who’s going to be cast as Cersei.
http://www.bscreview.com/ Jay Tomio

I’m not sure how to handle this but: SPOILERS for post-A Game of Thrones plot. DO NOT READ if you will be experiencing this series for the first time on TV

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My first thought was that he fits nicely (visually) with the Jaime we see in later novels (post-chop), but perhaps not the man we see walking into Winterfell at the beginning. As you say though, the hair is the only factor, and I think HBO has proven that they are rather amazing on anything production related I don’t think costumes, hair, or sets will be the (creative–I say that because cost certainly has) reason why an HBO series falters. I’m totally not put-off by the choice

Yes, Cersei looms for me perhaps the most significant character left to be cast. She has to be a stunner, and one that’s pretty much a full adult (where the Dany cast is young).

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau – Jaime Lannister in HBO’s A Game of Thrones

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