'Game of Thrones' star reveals the moment that broke Jaime and Cersei forever

"I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time," Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau says, when asked how it felt portray Jaime Lannister finally abandoning his sister (and lover) in the Season 7 finale.

"I think that he’s seen her do crazy things before, but this is lying to everyone, and lying to him. You’ve got to go, 'How much can this guy take before it becomes too much?' It was a great scene to shoot," he reveals in a new interview with Making Game of Thrones, the show's behind-the-scenes production blog.

Jaime had a rough season. He was belittled by Cersei, mocked by Euron, needled by Olenna and nearly roasted by Daenerys, but it wasn't until he was faced with the very real threat of the White Walkers -- and realized that his sister would rather sit on the sidelines and let her enemies kill each other than honor her word -- that he finally came to his senses. The woman he loves might just be beyond saving.

"That was it. That was the moment," he says of Cersei's decision to double-cross Daenerys and Jon. "She’s so cynical on a level that he doesn’t understand. You don’t give your word in front of the whole world and then just f**k ‘em. That’s too far. The fact is, yes there’s always been a lot of deceit, but Jaime is actually pretty straightforward when it comes to 'walking the walk' and all that. He’s thinking, 'You commit to something, and you’ve just seen this thing is real, what the hell…?' She takes it to a place that he can’t follow her to."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

One person whose honor he's always respected is Brienne of Tarth, and Coster-Waldau admits that Jaime isn't immune to her attempts to make him realize that Cersei is dangerous when the two come face to face again in the dragonpit. "It’s always been 'family first,' so the idea this goes beyond that is like a foreign language. But it does get to him," he says. "It’s one of those things where someone says something to you and it’s been in the back of your mind all the time."

But it's not until Cersei actually seems to consider murdering him that Jaime makes the decision to walk away from her for good, despite the fact that Cersei is pregnant with his child.

"She seems more or less willing to kill him, and he finally realizes that whatever he feels for her, it doesn’t go both ways," Coster-Waldau says. "That whole thing of 'We’re in this together,' well, we’re not quite in this together — because you’re not. We’re not playing the same game."

Now Jaime is in uncharted territory, without the security of his family for the first time in the series. In the closing minutes of the Season 7 finale, we see him ditch his Lannister armor and house colors -- even covering up his golden hand with a black glove in a literal and metaphorical rejection of his lineage -- as he sets off towards the north to honor his bargain with Team Dany. Where he'll end up remains to be seen, but we just hope it's somewhere with Brienne. (Sorry, Tormund.)