Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Has Some Choice Words About Lannisters in HotD
HBO's House of the Dragon by now is shaping up as worthy successor of phenomenally successful Game of Thrones, perhaps even an improvement on it, fixing errors of its controversial later seasons and finale.
The prequel series, set in Westeros almost two centuries before the events of Game of Thrones, is focused on a different set of noble houses: the Targaryen dynasty, and those who were associated with it most closely at the time, such as Velaryons, Hightowers, and Strongs.
Of course, as all the houses from the original series were already supposed to be in existence, their members also appear on the screen from time to time. Starks, Baratheons and Lannisters all show up at different points in House of the Dragon 's first season.
The Lannisters had perhaps the most notable role. The twin brothers Lord Jason and Tyland (both played by Jefferson Hall) are similar to their descendants in their style of dress and their arrogance. Not surprisingly, they support the Greens against Rhaenyra.
As it happens, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who played Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, caught a glimpse of these new Lannister twins – he did not yet have time to sit down and watch through House of the Dragon, as he is currently busy promoting his new podcast true crime drama Radioman, but he saw some clips of Jason and Tyland – and had a pretty funny reaction to it:
"I didn't think there would be any Lannisters, but suddenly, I just saw a clip with a Lannister, who seemed very smug," Nikolaj shared, confessing that he found the character "annoying." (via Metro) "And then he also had a twin and I was like, oh my god, they have Lannister twins as well! They have the whole package."
As Jason and Tyland were almost certainly supposed to come off as annoying twits, the showrunners have achieved the desired effect. Well, at least this time Lannisters won't be involved in providing the incest quota for the show, because another family took up that duty, as Coster-Waldau noticed:
"Of course I'm sure there's also – being Targaryen – a lot of incest going on."
Overall, we can only agree with his assessment that House of the Dragon felt "very familiar and very different at the same time."