Brutal Unscripted Line Made Gwendoline Christie Cry On Game of Thrones Set
In the much-maligned final season of Game of Thrones, one of the few storylines that fans seemed to like was the relationship between Jaime and Brienne. It was a move that many felt was a good one for Jaime and made sense in terms of his development and character arc.
So, naturally, fans were left dismayed when Jaime decided to ditch Brienne and instead head back to his incestuous relationship with his sister Cersei.
But it wasn't just fans that felt hard done by. Because Gwendoline Christie, who played Brienne of Tarth, ended up in tears. Although this was more about a brutal and unscripted line that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime) threw in (but that didn't make the edit) as he spoke his parting words to her.
"I don't love you," Coster-Waldau said. "No one loves you."
But if you're thinking you don't remember this devastating line being delivered. You'd be absolutely right.
It was in season 8 episode 4 that Brienne pleaded with Jaime not to return to Cersei – telling him that he was "a good man" and that he was "better than her (Cersei)."
In the show, Jaime responded by repeating some of the awful things he had done because of Cersei before finishing by saying "She's hateful. And so am I."
He then rode off on his horse leaving behind a tearful and devastated Brienne who had truly believed that he did love her.
Anyone who has watched the scene will remember the tears of anguish shed by Brienne as it becomes obvious to her that Jaime really is going back to Cersei. And now we know why that hit home so hard.
It wasn't just because we were witnessing a story of love and loss. It wasn't that, like many fans, Brienne knew (and hoped) that Jaime could rid himself of Cersei's curse and be a better man. And it wasn't just a great bit of method acting.
The tears were real. And they were brought about by a callous and brutal line (to be fair, a very Jaime line that wouldn't have seemed out of place had it been part of the script) that was improvised by the actor who knew his character so well and was aware that he could add drama to the scene by going slightly off script.
And it's fair to say his plan came off.