For seven seasons, we've watched Jaime Lannister develop from the posh, long-haired asshole who crippled an innocent child to unexpectedly becoming one of the most sympathetic heroes on Game of Thrones. Blinded by love and loyalty to his sister, he's remained at Cersei's site despite his morality pulling him in the right direction. And in the Season Seven finale, Jaime finally broke free.

While there was justice in Winterfell, long-awaited hook-ups, and confirmed fan theories, the greatest moment of the Game of Thrones' season finale was a climactic emotional scene between Cersei and Jaime. Most of this season has sped right along, skipping some of the more nuanced character building, but Cersei and Jaime's relationship has had the time to develop. And this is great news for fans, who are treated to some of the show's finest acting, portraying the two most complex and interesting characters.

After initially agreeing to a truce between her side and Team Jon/Daenerys to fight the White Walker army, Cersei reveals to Jaime that she will betray her enemies and bring a mercenary army to fight for her from abroad. She will not fight for the living, and Jaime refuses to join her. When she motions to The Mountain to kill Jaime—her brother, lover, and presumed father of her unborn child—he walks away, leaving her with the words, "I don't believe you."

In an interview with Esquire.com, actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau reveals what those parting words mean, where Jaime Lannister is heading in Season Eight, and what convinced his character to finally leave Cersei.

What changed during Jaime's conversation with Cersei.

Finally he saw what everyone else had been seeing. Or finally he'd had enough. You always have to believe in something, and you always have to believe you're fighting the just cause. I think that for him he could keep telling himself that they are invading us—that Daenerys Targaryen, the Dothraki, are invading our country and want to take what's ours, and we want to defend ourselves. I guess you can argue that point. He saw what the mad king was like, and dragons are not nice animals. But now he's seen the truly horrific sight of these undead and he believes it. He believes how scary they are. He believes Jon Snow. He believes his brother. And he believes Daenerys when she says she saw 100,000 marching.

Obviously, the right thing is what Cersei does to begin with—that they're all going to fight this and see what happens after. Her argument before was that they have to fight these foreign invaders; now she's suddenly saying that she's getting an army of foreign invaders to fight for her. It's so messed up. And it doesn't make sense. Fundamentally, it's the wrong thing on any moral scale that he knows. She also has no respect for him. He's just there to do what she says. She shows so little respect for him as a human being, as a counselor, as a partner, for everything. He's had enough.

HBO

What Jaime meant with the words: "I don't believe you."

When he says, "I don't believe you," it's not just that he doesn't believe she's going to kill him. For me, at least, it was more [like], "That's it, I don't love you anymore. You're on your own." Why it took him so long, god only knows, but he got there in the end.

Why Cersei didn't have Jaime killed—it might have been a miscommunication.

There are two things: It could be that The Mountain didn't understand the hand signals. She was signaling, "Just kill him," but he didn't get it. So they can have a big scene afterward where she goes to Qyburn and says, "You gotta train this monster." I was giving him the signal and he just stood there. [Laughs] I don't know. She still has feelings, and I think there's also a bit of her not believing what she's seeing. She's stunned at what's going on. Like she said: "No one walks away from me." And clearly their whole lives Jaime's been about her, what's right for her, how can I stay close to her. There's a moment of disbelief that he's actually walking away from her. It could also just be that her little pet weapon didn't get the subtlety of the hand signal. He's really thick. That's the problem when you bring someone back from the dead: They're very dumb. You have to be really specific with your orders.

HBO

What Jaime is thinking on his horse while leaving King's Landing.

He's like, "I have to do this." He truly believes that we all have to fight this thing. This is humanity at stake. We'll either have living or dead conquering the world. You see him covering up his gold hand, and he knows he has to get to some sort of commander—whether it be Jon Snow or someone else in charge. Otherwise, he's going into enemy territory, and he's quite recognizable with that gold hand. If he wants to even get to battle before he's killed by Stark soldiers, he's going to need a bit of luck. You'd hope he can get there. But who knows, I might read Episode One of Season Eight and it says Jaime meets a Stark soldier and he's killed. It would be so disappointing, I make it so far through Season Eight and it's like, "Yes!"

There are going to be some blue-eyed main characters running around. And, god, I hope it's not me.

He really hopes this isn't how Jaime dies.

The fear is that I would be turned into one of those undead. That would suck. You know some of the main characters are going to get turned. There are going to be some blue-eyed main characters running around. And, god, I hope it's not me. That's three hours of make-up in the morning. I know that if David Benioff and Dan Weiss read this, they'll go, "Oh, yes we will."

Jaime is definitely heading north.

I do think he's heading north, unless he's tricking us all and goes south and just says, "I'm getting the hell out of here." The double-double-double cross. "I lost my hand, what am I even going to do up there?" He could just be in a row boat getting away. No, I do believe that he's joining them in the north. You know there are all these swords of Valyrian steel, and you would think those five would all be somewhere in the mix.

HBO

How his character has developed throughout the series.

I think he's had it all along, but what defined him was that he's known as the Kingslayer. He got that name from an act of going against loyalty. That thing that Brienne says before his scene with Cersei— "Fuck loyalty"—that's what got him in trouble in the first place. He killed the Mad King, and he became known as the most dishonorable man. And of course his sister says that if he does this, it will be treason. Which of course is what he might become known for now. He's the Kingslayer. He's the traitor.

I do believe that he's had a pretty good moral compass, but he's also done horrible things, no question about it. But in all these years it was all about what was right for Cersei; now it's about just what's right. I do believe when he says this is bigger than any of us that he means it. When this fight is over, either the living or the dead will win. This is the right thing to do. In Season One, Tywin said he wanted Jaime to become the man he was meant to be. Clearly this isn't the man Tywin would have wanted him to be, but this is the man that I want him to be. He's doing the right thing—he's joining the fight for humanity.

When Game of Thrones Season Eight will start filming.

Well, we go back in October, and I'm finishing a movie called Domino. But that's when the fun starts. And I think this season is going to take about 4,000 years to shoot. I'll probably retire when it's done. [Laughs] No, I have a few things I'll be getting into. I will be busy. I hope I don't die in Episode One of Season Eight, but who knows?

Matt Miller Culture Editor Matt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io