Lena Headey wishes she and Maisie Williams had gotten to do a final battle on Game Of Thrones
Headey's fine with it, but at the time she wished for something better than getting crushed by rocks
Aux News Game of Thrones
No one was happy with how Game Of Thrones ended, and while the actors all seem to be over it and have moved on with their lives, they also all seem to have crystal-clear memories of how they felt at the time when it was happening. Lena Headey, who played Cersei Lannister on the show right up until the moment things began to fully go off the rails, is no exception, and she recently discussed the end of Game Of Thrones briefly with The Hollywood Reporter.
The chat was ostensibly about Headey’s directorial debut, an indie psychological drama called The Trap, and what it’s like moving behind the camera for the first time (she loves it and says it’s “so much better” than acting), but Thrones naturally came up. First, Headey said she hasn’t seen any of House Of The Dragon and didn’t seem too interested in talking about it, only agreeing that it would be “too weird” to see it (especially when her mean family ended up being so mean to that mean family!).
But in terms of deeper Thrones thoughts, Headey mentioned that she would’ve liked to see Cersei go out in some kind of fight scene, rather than simply getting crushed by rocks after being reunited with her brother Jaime, saying that she thinks all of the actors had started dreaming up ideal storylines for themselves at some point. She said that her and Maisie Williams—who played Arya Stark—would “fantasize about a Cersei and Arya showdown” where Arya would use her Faceless Men tricks to come to Cersei as Jaime. “That was our dream,” she said, “But they made different choices.”
In retrospect, Cersei and Arya never really interacted much on Game Of Thrones, despite Cersei’s prominent place on the list of people Arya dreamed of someday killing (a thing that seemed pretty important until the point where the show decided that a lot of things that seemed important no longer were).
Still, Headey said that everybody understands that it was hard to wrap up everything up, and when you’re actually “in it” there comes “a moment of, ‘why?’,” but she said she “absolutely” gets why things happened the way they did. And she noted that she doesn’t miss doing Game Of Thrones at all. “I miss the people,” she explained, “Because you fall in love with people, and you create these family units.” She feels a “weird grief” from those relationships, but she doesn’t miss it. “We put everything into it. It changed everyone’s fucking world, and we’ll always have it.”
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There wouldn’t have been a fight scene. Arya would have fucked Cersei up before she could muster a scowl. Anyway, I didn’t mind the finale, but I was also never super invested in the show on the same level as, well, the rest of the world I guess.
They basically took all character development and plot pacing and threw it all out the window in order to wrap things up NOW. Folks that got into GoT based on all of that didn’t get anything close to the story end that was being built up in the first seasons.The worst thing is that none of that HAD to happen. The original directors could have brought in successor directors with a good grasp of how to continue things longer, in order to wrap the show up in a less rushed way.
Ironically, their mishandling of the final season and the blow back from it, tanked the projects they were rushing so hard to get to
It’s the modern Hollywood version of The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs. They did good work, got a lot of interest from Hollywood, fucked up their current work to get to the big Hollywood projects, but in doing so all those big studios lost interest once they saw them fuck up GOT. It’s poetic.
It’s a good case study.
Yeah, the “I just got bored of it” didn’t help their careers at all, understandably.
Well, that, and their main one was an alternate history where the Confederacy and slavery still existed, being made by two white guys in the US in 2017. That it took til *2020* (a year after the finale) for it to actually be officially shitcanned is beyond me, but then, I’ve never tried cocaine.
Remember when Benioff and Weiss (along with half of Hollywood) were going to make a Star War?
uber Nepo baby and nepo baby friend thought they were writers not just producers adapting the work of a writer
Um, yeah, it probably didn’t help that “the project” they were “rushing to get to” also happened to be an alternate history show about “what if the Confederacy won?” And it certainly didn’t help that it was revealed in early 2017.
I agree. They should’ve just handed it off to other people who actually gave a shit.That said, in July I re-watched GOT start to finish (something I swore never to do after it ended), and I have to say that the last 2 seasons didn’t seem as bad as when I watched it originally. Yes, the last 2 seasons felt rushed, the last season especially, but it sat better overall when watching it all at once. I think a big part of it was not having to wait an entire week, stewing in my disbelief & disappointment.
Yeah I’d rewatched the whole series in the space of a week right before the final season and, beyond wishing we’d had a couple more episodes, largely had no issue with either the episodes or the finale.Seeing it in such a fashion meant the character arcs which have been built up become abundantly clear, particularly Dany’s heel turn which is telegraphed so far in advance that it genuinely surprised me that people either didn’t see it coming or were upset by it. While it would have been good to see it fleshed out a bit more, that’s always where the story was going from day one.
“(something I swore never to do after it ended)“
Lol, you dramatic fuck..
This pretty much encapsulates it:“a thing that seemed pretty important until the point where the show decided that a lot of things that seemed important no longer were.”There were a shit ton of things like Arya’s list that just got dropped. As you said, “all character development and plot pacing.” That’s what made the show outstanding to begin with. Much of it just abandoned, de-emphasized, or abbreviated from minor things like Arya’s list to one of the top three (some would say #1) plot points, the war with the zombie hordes from the north.
HBO can cry crocodile tears now about how they would have let it go for another 15 years, but I also remember reading before the fated final seasons started that most of the actors’ contracts were coming up and huge raises were a-coming.So, it wasn’t just those guys wanting to write about slavery and Star Wars that ended it.
I mean it could have played out in some way where Arya wanted to be able to gloat and rub it in and left herself open to something she hadn’t anticipated (maybe related to The Mountain, who in this version hadn’t yet had a showdown w/The Hound). It would make sense as an arc for Cercei since certainly one of here themes was “everyone always underestimates her.”
As Tywin said, she isn’t as smart as she thinks she is.
It could’ve been a confrontation that leaves Cersei bleeding out and poisoned. Which would’ve still allowed her to die alongside Jaime from falling rocks, but still cemented that Jaime was choosing to die with her, even when he didn’t have to.
What’s the deal with users using backwards names like this?
I don’t know, Seinfled, what IS the deal?
So do we, Lena. So do we.
She didn’t read the fucking books either
Pretty hard to read something that hasn’t been written yet to be fair.
Of all the problems with the show, this was not one of them.I actually kinda liked their death scene.
Yep. Getting buried by the city she spent seasons destroying is borderline poetic
This. For all the yammering about “BuT Jameee wuz REDEMMEDTH!” the only proper way for Jaime and Cersei to finish was in each other’s arms.
I wasn’t sure if it would be embracing or with him strangling her as she plunged a knife into his ribs, but they had to be together.
Could’ve still had her dying from poison or a clearly fatal knife wound at the time.
To be fair, they would have had to come up with some pretty convoluted reasoning how that battle would have lasted longer than… a second.
Non-combatant vs. elite assassin would not a great climactic moment make.
I dunno, Arya does some pretty cruel shit for cruelty’s sake later on. She could want to toy with her prey, and get just overconfident enough to let Cersei get a single hit in before it’s over.
It made sense when Oberyn lost against the Mountain after being too cocky – two trained fighters with different but equally excellent skills.
But a magical shapeshifiting Ninja assassin who could literally defeat pretty much anyone in Westeros with her eyes closed against Cercei who had zero combat training or experience would be a far stretch…
Spot on! She infiltrated The Twins and served Walder Frey a pot pie made of his sons!!! I’m sure Cersei “I Choose [to Stand Behind] Violence” Lannister wouldn’t have lasted longer than fighter introductions!
Oh, Cersei would 3000% -lose-, I’m just saying that Arya might get a cool scar out of the deal if she let her emotion get the better of her and Cersei got exactly one moment of surprise over her before being killed.
EXACTLY. What exactly was she envisioning here? In what universe does she think Cersei was a match for Arya in any way? The only thing I can think is that she would have put on her pitiful face and cried and *maybe* gotten Arya to feel sorry for her (not likely, but Arya did have a heart), and then *maybe* she could pull a knife out of her sleeve and stab her or something? Then maybe the match would be more even? But that would have been so contrived and stupid.
What was she thinking? Probably that she was finally finishing a very long contract and looking forward to going home. And while it would be fun to have a big scene with a friend before everyone went their separate ways, that wasn’t going to happen. It’s really not that deep.
“What was she thinking?”Not what I asked, nor did anyone say it was “deep,” but thanks for joining the conversation with irrelevancies.
Arya only had a sword, whereas Cersei had drunken sarcastic criticism.
I seriously doubt she means, like, literal physical combat taking place between Cersei and Arya since that clearly wouldn’t make sense. “Fight scene” probably means tete-a-tete followed by execution scene in this case. And she’s right! Must’ve been bizarre to carry that show on her back for three seasons straight and have her reward be milquetoast.
That’s Hedley!
What’re you worried about?! It’s 2023 – you’ll be able to sue her!
I mean, there’s so much that should have been done and would have been cool in that final season, you know, instead of that shit they actually did put in the show.
But to be clear this suggestion would not have been cool. A “fight” between Cersei and Arya would have been dumb as hell.
Two bored actors spitballing about having a big scene together before everyone went their separate ways at the end of their contracts is simply that.
Okay?
Contrary opinion: I would have found it very satisfying indeed for Arya Stark to assassinate one of the architects of her family’s brutal destruction. It wouldn’t have been a “fight”, but the whole time I watched Arya sneak into King’s Landing I thought that’s what they were leading towards. Not girl runs from dragon carnage, woman and incest lover crushed by rocks.
Now that I wouldn’t have minded. Arya straight up killing Cersei would have been just fine and dandy. It’s just the idea of a “fight” that would have been incredible. But I will say again that Cersei getting crushed by rocks is as meaningless a death as she deserved. It almost would have been too much of an honor for her to have been killed by Arya.
Oh for sure–my comment was more regarding the entire final season(s) than this one particular thing.
i would be down for the reveal that Cersei has been in combat training every week, since childhood, off-screen, and she’s bad-ass in 1-2-1 combat, lol.
But Cersei didn’t fight? Arya would have kicked her ass within three seconds. It wouldn’t have made any sense. Cersei didn’t deserve anything better than getting crushed by rocks, fleeing for her life.
Is this autism?
Obviously she’s not meaning a literal fight, since that makes no sense for her character, but some sort of final confrontation would have been welcome. One of the finale’s biggest criticisms is how anti-climatic Cersei’s arc in particular was, after spending the season drinking wine staring out the window. Looking at the landscape of the series as a whole, which hangs its hat on characters meeting very memorable ends, even compared to other deaths on the show, hers is rivaled only by Sir Barristan in lameness. where Arya would use her Faceless Men tricks to come to Cersei as Jaime That sounds kinda cool to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If D&D found time to prioritize a fan servicey “Clegane Bowl” for tertiary characters, surely they could have paid off Arya and Cersei finally meeting. And it’s not even about what I want, so much as it is about giving Heady and Williams some much needed juicy material to perform for the end of their stories, satisfying two narrative threads at once.
Does the magic mask make Arya grow two feet?
And the Clegane Bowl was predicted/demanded from the fucking first season. You can bitch about fan service all you like, but there’d have been riots had it not happened.
Doing stuff for the fans is one of the reasons GoT got so lame.
I mean, maybe? we’re given almost no information about how the magic works. no one batted an eye when she pretended to be walder frey.“but there’d have been riots had it not happened.” maybe writers should focus on telling compelling stories instead of placating their ugliest zealots.
I was compelled by that fight.Plus, I’m a fan. I have a fanhood. I want it serviced.
I’m as compelled by guy-on-guy roughhousing as anyone but you don’t see me calling it good tv
Egg zackly!
Sounds like someone at the end of a long contract, just spitballing with a co-worker about doing something fun before everyone goes their separate ways. The part where people are taking this seriously is bonkers.
I’m struck by that line about putting everything into the show. Ironically they could have shot it on a soundstage with Styrofoam sets like and old BBC series, and people would remember it just as fondly (or more fondly).
A fight scene would have been silly, given that Cersei didn’t know how to fight and was pregnant. But I do like the idea of Arya using a magic mask to look like Jaime, and then knifing her, and letting Cersei die thinking her brother killed her. And then the real Jaime enters the room and Arya pulls the mask off.
Headey, who played Cersei Lannister on the show right up until the moment things began to fully go off the railsWeird, I definitely remember her being in the show after Season 1.
eh, season 1 has a lot of issues regarding it’s tone. definitely a show still figuring out it’s voice in those days. Four is when I’d say it really stopped giving a fuck.
Lena Headey, who played Cersei Lannister on the show right up until the moment things began to fully go off the rails,Barsanti gonna Barsanti.
#TeamCersei#TeamAryaWho U Got?
Good they did not did it it would have been ridiculous and lame.
Oh, you know, Arya could have chased her down, played coy until Cersei said something dismissive, then bam! smacked her around, put her in an arm bar, led her out into an open courtyard, and signaled for Dany and the dragon to have at her.After Cersei got chomped, then Arya could be like “So now you can stop sacking the city right?”And then Dany goes full heel-turn.Still in some theoretical top 10 of ways Cersei could get her comeuppance, getting crushed with Jamie was maybe 4th best. It was ok.