When a show keeps things as secretive as Game of Thrones does, you have to be ready to find hints anywhere — and Lena Headey may have spoiled that Cersei survives the upcoming Game of Thrones' season. In a recent interview with TIME, Headey discussed her character Cersei Lannister, who ended Season 6 in a blaze of glory and tragedy — childless, but finally sitting atop the Iron Throne. The interviewer asked the 43-year old actress how she felt about the show's conclusion nearing after eight seasons on the air. And while Headey's response is simple and straightforward, it also contains an intriguing clue that Cersei might survive right up until the final episode.
"I don’t really have time to think about it," the actor said. "It doesn’t feel very real right now. Until the last day, when it’s goodbye, my most successful relationship, my longest relationship ever." Did you catch that? She said "the last day of filming", not "my last day of filming."
It might be nothing, but it also might be something, and if there's one thing that fans have learned from the series, it's to err on the side of "something." At the very least, it seems to suggest that Headey has yet to film her final episode, which in turn implies that her character survives Season 7, since filming on the penultimate season wrapped in February.
Later in the interview, the actor seems to give even more credence to this theory when describing the moment she read through the Season 7 scripts. She says Peter Dinklage, who plays her brother Tyrion Lannister, sent her a text that had Headey worrying that Cersei would be killed off.
"Last year, Pete Dinklage sent me a text that said 'Oh my God, have you read them,' and I hadn’t. I’d just had my second baby so I was a bit crazy and full of milk. He just said 'Holy sh*t,” and I was like “What the f*ck?!' He went, 'Oh my God, I’m not telling you,' so I [assumed] oh, I’m going to die. And then, I went straight to the end. I was really in shock. I think obviously, now, there’s got to be some body count at the end of [Season] 8. This is the year."
Once again, this quote seems to imply Cersei's survival past Season 7 and potentially deep into Season 8. But, of course, it could also be a simple slip of the tongue or even a calculated attempt to lull audiences into complacency. After all, the show has long had a reputation for killing off characters just as they are beginning to feel indispensable, and Cersei could be no different.
